BRIEF ON IRAN No. 578 Thursday, January 23, 1997 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran Washington, DC Italian MP's Call on Ankara for Murder Trial, Kronos (Italian News Agency),January 22 ROME - A group of Italian parliamentarians, from both the majority and the opposition, issued a statement addressed to Turkey's President, Solyman Demirel, calling on him to assure due process in the murder case of Mrs. Zahra Rajabi, a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. In the statement, the parliamentarians reiterated the suspicions that Tehran's diplomats may have been involved in the murder of Mrs. Rajbi and the representative of NCR in Italy, Housein Naghdi, who was assassinated on March 16, 1993 in Rome. [In a related development, today, NCR issued an statement warning about the activities of "agents of Tehran's Intelligence Ministry" to influence the trails to cover up "their involvement in the murder of two activists of the Iranian Resistance." "Verified reports indicate that the mullahs' regime has sent its intelligence ministry agents to Turkey to observe the court proceedings and make use of every economic and political means to prevent exposure of the direct role of the regime's diplomats in this murder," said the statement.] U.S. Sanctions Start Effecting Mullahs' Economy, Reuters, January 22 TEHRAN - ... Real sustained growth could be threatened by U.S. sanctions and stalled reforms, diplomats and officials said on Wednesday.... "The country is still in a very tight situation...It can't finance large projects," one diplomat said.... The rial was quoted on the illegal black market on Wednesday at 4,600 to the U.S. dollar, compared to the official rate of 3,000, and the 4,900 level reached late last year.... Direct foreign investment in the Islamic republic was still being deterred by U.S. trade sanctions and a lack of a basic law governing outside investment including the right to repatriate earnings, diplomats said. The government's privatization process had slowed, even privatized firms remained still largely owned by state officials and the powerful bazaar merchants choked any meaningful reform, diplomats said.... Iranian oil experts were also cautious on the outlook for oil prices which still account for close to 90 percent of government export earnings. "We felt that we should have adopted the $16.50 price in the second five-year plan (1995-2000)," one expert said, adding the $17.50 base in next year's budget may prove too bullish because of a potential downturn in oil demand from April to June. Iran Approves Anti-US Fund, Associated Press, January 22 TEHRAN - Iran's parliament approved $8.3 million Wednesday to foil "U.S. government plots against Iran" during the next year, state-run Iran Television said. The 270 members of parliament, or Majlis, voiced their agreement by standing up and shouting, "Death to America!"... Holy Month Another Excuse for Continued Cruelty, state-run Jomhuri Islami, January 16 Mohammadi, the chief justice of Islam Shahr [Tehran's suburb] said: "Those who eat during the holy month of Ramadan, will be treated according to the law." "In this regard, an individual who broke his fast in public in the first day of Ramadan, was sentenced to lashes. His sentence was carried out in public..." Higher Education Crises and Unemployment, Radio Israel, January 20 The Minister of Culture and Higher Education vehemently criticized that every department and organization has established its own college or university and issues diplomas. He emphasized that the regulations of his ministry are so many that even some are in contradiction. He added that hundreds of thousand of young graduates are facing unemployment... U.N. Concerned Over Afghan Refugees in Iran, Reuters, January 20 TEHRAN - An Iranian crackdown on foreign workers could lead to more than a million Afghan refugees facing a stark choice of returning to war-torn Afghanistan or destitution in Iran, a United Nations official warned on Monday. "It may lead refugees with no other viable choice than either to become very destitute or return to Afghanistan," Pierre Bertrand, chief of mission at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tehran told Reuters.... Many Afghan refugees have had residence permits withdrawn and told either to return home or live in refugee camps.