In a letter to Demirel, Rajavi urges him to prevent deportation of Iranian asylum seekers

In a telegram this morning to the Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, condemned the Turkish Government's decision to deport a group of Iranian asylum seekers from that country and the arrest in this regard of a number of them. Mr. Rajavi called on the President of Turkey to personally intervene to prevent the deportation of these asylum seekers and ensure the freedom of those arrested.

In his telegram, Mr. Rajavi emphasized that these asylum seekers included many women and children. In the past years, the Iranian asylum seekers tried every means, including hunger strikes, and sit-ins, to prevent being extradited to the mullahs' regime. Were these individuals ordinary refugees and not in danger in Iran, they would have preferred repatriation instead of enduring such painful suffering and homelessness.

Mr. Rajavi pointed to the reports sent by Mrs. Zahra Rajabi, the NCR representative, who traveled to Turkey in February 1996 to inspect the living conditions of Iranian asylum seekers. Mrs. Rajabi was murdered by the clerical regime's diplomat-terrorists in Turkey. He said: The situation of human rights in Iran continues to deteriorate. In such circumstances, if these asylum seekers are returned to Iran, they would doubtless face imprisonment, torture and execution.

Mr. Rajavi asked the President of Turkey to do what is necessary to ensure that these asylum seekers are safe until their transfer to a third country.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 7, 1998

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