Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, welcomed the non-participation of many of the heads of Islamic states. He called on other Islamic leaders to boycott the summit as a show of solidarity by the Islamic world with the Iranian people who are under the yoke of the mullahs' anti-Islamic and anti-Iranian regime.
In two letters on April 17 and October 3, Mr. Rajavi had urged the leaders of Islamic countries not to go to Tehran because the mullahs sought to take advantage of this conference to legitimize their repressive and fundamentalist policies. This regime has to date been condemned 41 times by different organs of the United Nations for violating human rights and exporting terrorism, the NCR President had reiterated.
The Tehran summit coincides with a fierce power struggle at the highest leadership levels and while society is in an explosive state. The regime's officials are so concerned about the security of the conference and of the guests that they have assigned Tehran's security to the Guards Corps and taken the unprecedented measure of imposing a de facto curfew on the capital. The clerical regime has publicly ordered all taxi drivers in Tehran to report the names, routes and destination of all foreign passengers, especially journalists, to the authorities. This is a bid to deny foreign reporters free access to different parts of the capital.
The regime has also officially closed all schools, universities, offices, ministries and government organizations for four days and banned all gatherings and meetings. It has canceled all domestic flights to and from Tehran's Mehrabad Airport on Monday. The bus terminal in West Tehran is closed this week and no one is allowed to travel to Tehran. Hundreds of streets, expressways and squares in north, northeast, west and northwest Tehran and some areas in central sections of the capital are closed. From the early hours of Monday to Friday, no cars are allowed to park on the streets in these areas. Only the local residents can pass through by presenting special identification cards.
In addition to the Guards Corps, the regime has brought in 4,000 members of the State Security Forces from other cities to thwart the outbreak of protests and anti-government demonstrations in Tehran. It has deployed a considerable number of helicopters to patrol the capital. The regime has also set up Guards bases throughout Tehran to prevent any form of gathering, even of three people.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
December 7, 1997
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