BRIEF ON IRAN BOI 603 Friday, February 28, 1997 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran Washington, D.C. Isfahan's Textile Workers Go on Strike in Shahreza, Iran Zamin News Agency, February 27 On Tuesday, all three shifts of the workers at Isfahan's textile (Nassajji) factory in Shahreza went on strike, reports from Iran say. According to a statement by the National Council of Resistance of Iran "Workers' salaries in this factory have not paid for more two months and major parts of the textile plant are shut down due to shortages of raw material." A large number of revolutionary guards and agents of the Intelligence Ministry to the factory site to prevent striking workers from leaving the factory and spreading their protest outside the plant, reports say. Turkey Expels Iranian Consul as a 'Persona non Grata', Reuters, February 27 ANKARA - The Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Thursday it was expelling Iran's consul to the eastern town of Erzurum, following his reported criticism of comments by a leading military official. "It was announced today...that the Islamic Republic of Iran's Erzurum chief consul Saeede Zare has been declared a 'persona non grata' and he must leave Turkey within 48 hours," a foreign ministry statement said. The announcement added to a diplomatic row between Tehran and Ankara, which protested to Iran earlier this month about the Iranian ambassador's comments at an anti-Israel rally.... Turkey's state-run Anatolian news agency said Zare had accused the deputy chief of the Turkish armed forces, Cevik Bir, of "irresponsibility" for his comments about Iran during a trip to the United States. Bir had described Iran as a "terrorist" state, according to Turkish newspapers.... Mullahs' Hire Spies in Azerbaijan, Agence France Presse, February 27 MOSCOW - Some Azerbaijani Islamic militants standing trial in Baku on charges of spying for Iran have pleaded guilty, the Azerbaijani news agency Turan reported Thursday, quoting court officials. Interfax news agency reported that four leaders of Azerbaijan's Islamic Party, including its chairman Alikram Aliyev, went on trial behind closed doors in Baku Tuesday, accused of high treason. The four were accused of signing an agreement with the Iranian secret service in February 1994 to gather intelligence information, Interfax reported.... Iranian Guards Kill Pakistani on Border, Reuters, February 27 QUETTA, Pakistan - Iranian border guards shot and killed a Pakistani citizen and wounded two others near the small border town of Taftan in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan, provincial officials said on Thursday. Mohammad Umar, a local hotel owner, died instantly when hit by a burst of gunfire from the guards on Wednesday, a senior Pakistani official in the area told Reuters by telephone. He said Umar and the two other men were standing near the border when the Iranians opened fire at them.... Sweden Urges Iran to Allow Jailed Dissident to Stockholm, Agence France Presse, February 27 STOCKHOLM - Swedish Foreign Minister Lena Hjelm-Wallen on Thursday expressed concern for growing human rights abuses in Iran and called on Tehran to allow jailed dissident Faraj Sarkuhi to travel to Stockholm.... Western nations have asked Iran to cast light on the fate of Sarkuhi, who was arrested by the Iranian secret service in late January as he tried to illegally leave Iran for Sweden, where he has a brother who lives as a political refugee. Sarkuhi was one of 134 writers and journalists who had in October 1994 signed a petition for more freedom of expression in Iran.... Film Makers in Tehran Call for More Realistic Portrayals of Women, Agence France Presse, February 27 TEHRAN - Women film makers attending an international seminar in the Iranian capital are demanding a better image for women in movies, instead of the traditional interpretations as seen through male eyes.... But in the Iranian cinema, women are restricted by many regulations laid down in an official directive. For example, actresses are not allowed to touch actors on film, even if they are husband and wife. In addition, a woman in the movies may not appear without the chador covering her up... The latest regulations have even banned "unnecessary" close-ups of women in films.... "A morality which needs a watchdog to protect (it) is not a morality, but an oppression," said French director Catherine Breillat...