BRIEF ON IRAN
No. 540
Friday, November 15, 1996

Representative Office of
The National Council of Resistance of Iran
Washington, DC


NCR Calls for Immediate International Action to Free Sarkouhi, Iran Zamin
News Agency, November 14

	On Thursday, the National Council of Resistance of Iran issued an statement
condemning the arrest of Mr. Faraj Sarkouhi, the editor of Adineh magazine.
He was arrested by the Ministry of Intelligence at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport
on November 3 when he was getting on the plane to leave Iran for Germany.
	After 11 days of silence, the Khomeini regime's press reported yesterday
that Mr. Sarkouhi had departed Tehran according to the schedule...
	NCR's statement urged "all international human rights organizations and the
UNHRC Special Representative, Professor Maurice Copithorne, to denounce this
act of suppression by the mullahs and take immediate measures to save the
life and secure the release of Mr. Sarkouhi."


Iranian Resistance Condemns Regime's Pressuring UN's Special Representative,
Iran Zamin News Agency, November 13

	In the wake of the publication of the interim report of the UNHRC Special
Representative on the situation of human rights in Iran, the officials of
the Khomeini regime and government backed media began preparations to hinder
and sabotage the Prof. Copithorne's mission. 
	The mullahs' Foreign Minister described the Special Representative's report
as "worthless"...  The spokesman for the regime's Foreign Ministry
emphasized that the human rights situation in Iran will not be affected by
the U.N. rapporteurs' reports.
	NCR in an statement condemned pressuring Professor Copithorne by the regime.
	"After the parliamentary elections in Iran and the dominance of Khamenei's
faction, the mullahs have found themselves in need of further escalation of
repression within the country and terrorism without. Since the beginning of
October, the state-run news agency and press have reported at least 36
executions. In the same period, three Iranian dissidents have been
assassinated and another eight abducted in the Iraqi Kurdistan and
Pakistan," the statement said.
	NCR once again urged "the U.N. General Assembly to decisively condemn the
crimes of the mullahs' regime and refer the issue of human rights violations
in Iran to the U.N. Security Council."
 

Clerics Slam German Prosecutor Over Killing Charge, Promise Retaliation,
Reuters, November 14

	TEHRAN - Iran on Thursday denounced a German federal prosecutor for
accusing Iranian leaders of ordering the killings of four dissident Kurds in
Berlin.
	"Germany's prosecutor has stepped outside his bounds..." said Foreign
Ministry spokesman Mahmoud Mohammadi, quoted by Tehran radio...
	The German prosecutor's office told a court in Berlin that an Iranian
special state committee, which allegedly included supreme leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei and President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, had ordered [the
murders of four Iranian Kurdish opposition figures in a Berlin restaurant in
1992]....
	The newspaper Kayhan called on Tehran to break ties with Bonn..., and
suggested that Moslems would take unspecified actions against Germany.
	"After this affront to the sanctities of the Moslem nation of Iran, it is
the duty of the honorable government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to
expel Germany's ambassador without hesitation and to cut all trade, economic
and political ties with this government," the hardline daily said.
	"Of course, the Iranian Moslem nation and other Moslems know their duty in
the face of this indignity and will certainly not let this affront to Islam
and Moslems go unanswered," Kayhan added. It did not elaborate.


Court Nixes Iran WWII Claim, Associated Press, November 13

	THE HAGUE, Netherlands - An international court has rejected Iran's
multimillion-dollar claim against the United States for using Iran's
railways to ship arms in World War II.
	The Iran-U.S. claims tribunal -- set up to arbitrate financial disputes
between Tehran and Washington -- said Iran had no contractual agreement for
compensation for use of its rails by the Allies....


Dollar Exchange Rate and Gold Price Rise in Iran, Radio Israel, November 12

	Daily Salam has reported that there has been a startling increase in U.S.
dollar exchange rate and the price of gold coins.  The daily said that
concurrent with this alarming increase, the stock index in Tehran's stock
market declined by more than 150 units during last week.
	Salam emphasized hat the upward fluctuations of dollar in open market
should not be ignored since the continuation of this situation usually
creates crises.
	Salam wrote that the price of dollar has reached 4720 rials.  According to
the paper this increase has been unprecedented during the last 18 months.