News on Iran

No. 68

March 18, 1996

A Publication of

National Council of Resistance of Iran

Foreign Affairs Committee

17, rue des Gords, 95430 Auvers-sur-Oise, France

Tel: (1) 34 38 07 28

Zahra Rajabi Laid to Rest in Paris

France Soir, March 16 - 1,500 Iranians residing in France had come to honor the first dissident woman assassinated in exile.

With tearful eyes under their scarves, a few branches of flowers in their hands, and a heavy silence to lay emphasis on the words on a banner which condemned a dreadful crime. This was the suffering and patience of the exiled Iranians who had gathered yesterday in Pere Lachaise to lay to rest a renowned figure of opposition to Tehran's bearded [rulers]: Zahra Rajabi, an NCR member who was assassinated on February 20 in Turkey.

Since 10:30 AM, 1,500 Iranians residing in France had come to pay their last homage to the first Iranian dissident woman who was assassinated by the mullahs' terrorists in Turkey. In a caravan surrounded by scarf wearing activists, the families of other victims, committed refugees, and other human rights advocates, among them Bishop Gaillot. All are united to point their fingers to the totalitarian regime who destroys anyone opposi ng it and does not stop at advocating terror.

10,000 Strong Protest in Bonab

NCR Secretariat, Mar. 12 - In the course of a demonstration by 10,000 residents of Bonab, Eastern Azerbaijan, scores of people were killed or wounded and the city was shut down. Simultaneous with the parliamentary election farce, residents gathered in front of Bonab's governor's office and shouted antigovernment slogans. Once the state security forces intervened to disperse the crowd, the enraged residents staged a protest march and on the way broke windows of banks and government buildings and offices.

Special anti-riot forces were sent to scene. They immediately opened fire on the crowd. 27 were killed. At least 80 protesters were wounded, many of whom are in critical condition. The protest began at 8:00 PM local time on Friday, March 11 and continued the next day. At 2:00 AM Saturday, the families of the dead wore shrouds and came out to the streets. Backed by large groups of residents, they began to demonstrate and shout slogan s against the regime's leaders. Security forces again opened fire on the peaceful protest, killing or wounding a number of protesters. Many have been arrested during the skirmishes which continued sporadically on Sunday.

The regime dispatched the commander of the Guards Corps' Ashura division and 600 commandos to Bonab.

Comprehensive election farce boycott

NCR Secretariat, Mar. 8 - Mr. Massoud Rajavi, the NCR President, hailed the Iranian people for their comprehensive boycott of the regime's election sham. He described the no vote as indicating the Iranian people's profound disdain toward the illegitima te clerical regime. Mr. Rajavi added: This was a resounding defeat and a devastating blow to the medieval dictatorship. It will doubtless aggravate as never before its internal crises, pushing it toward greater suppression and further terrorism.

The NCR President described the affirmative response to the Resistance's call for the election boycott as reflecting support for the Resistance and its President-elect, Mrs. Rajavi, by the overwhelming majority of the Iranian people. People stayed away although in recent weeks the regime attempted to lure them to the polling stations through an assortment of threats and enticements, he added.

Reports by hundreds of Iranian Resistance's observers from thousands of polling stations in Tehran and other cities indicate that most were deserted and in many of them until 8:00 PM, local time, shortly before the polls closed, less than 30 people had cast their votes. The Resistance's sources in the Interior Ministry report that the regime's officials were furious over the extensive boycott and predicted that at most 3.5 million, or less than 10% of the eligible voters, had participated in the voting. To increase the n umber of eligible voters, they had reduced the voting age to 15. This means that some 37 million Iranians were eligible to vote.

Iranshahr, March 11 - At 5:00 AM on March 9, the Baft Factory of Baluch was arsoned. The factory was burning for 8 hours. 30 workers died and more than 200 were hospitalized for burns and smoke inhillation. The factory has 5,000 workers.

American Spectator, Feb. 20 - Singapore has long been a haven for black market arms smugglers, and Mostazafan has set up a special arms trading company there known as Bonyad Marketing Industries, Private Ltd. In addition to spare parts for Iran' s U.S.-built F-4 and F-5 fighters, Bonyad Marketing has been purchasing large quantities of Hewlett Packard and Sun Sparcserver computers.

Mojahedin Member Murdered in Baghdad

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A member of the main Iranian opposition group was shot and killed Thursday night while driving to his office in central Baghdad, a spokesman for the group said. The murder of Hamed Rahmani came on the eve of Iranian elections for a new parliament. Farid Soleimani, a spokesman for the Mujahedeen Khalq group, blamed the attack on the Iranian government, and said it was the sixth assassination of a Mujahedeen member in Baghdad since May.

Two Sunni Leaders Assassinated

NCR Secretariat - At 2:00 PM, local time, Monday, March 4, the clerical regime's machine gun-touting terrorists attacked and assassinated two Iranian Sunni clergymen in Karachi, Pakistan.

Abdol-Malek Mollahzadeh, 45, born in Zahedan, and Abdol-Nasser Jamshid-Zehi, 25, from the city of Khash in Iranian Baluchistan, were shot dead by four agents of the mullahs' Intelligence Ministry in the Liari district near the Civil hospital. A Pakista ni woman passing by was also wounded and is currently hospitalized. Ciller Demands Iran Clarify Terror Charge

Reuters, Mar. 13 - Turkish conservative leader Tansu Ciller on Tuesday demanded Iran prove it had no hand in training an Islamist hitman involved in attacks in Turkey or face Ankara's wrath as a "terrorist" collaborator...

"If our neighbours are working not with us but with terrorists, then we will do what is necessary. Neighbours can trust our friendship but must fear us as enemies," she said. The semi-official Anatolian news agency this week quoted a senior policeman as saying Irfan Cagirici, a Turk detained for the murder of a journalist six years ago, had often gone to Iran in the 1980s for training. He is suspected of involvement in attacks on journalists, businessmen and Iranian dissidents. Newspapers named an official from Iran's consulate in Istanbul as directly involved in organising attacks in Turkey.

Iran's Ankara ambassador, Muhammed Riza Bagiri, dismissed the allegations as a media campaign to harm Iran-Turkey ties: "The claims, particularly against the diplomats in our Iranian consulate, are baseless and revolting. We do not accept them." An Iranian opposition group welcomed the allegations and demanded Turkey expel Iran's "terrorist-diplomats."

"The religious, terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran has turned Turkey into a hunting ground for its terrorist activities and murder of its opponents," the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, said in a statement.

Germany Seeks Arrest of Iranian Spymaster

International Herald Tribune, Mar. 16-17 - In a highly unusual move that could bolster the new American campaign to isolate Iran, a German judge has issued a warrant for the arrest on murder charges of Iran's top spymaster....

Mr. Fallahiyan is suspected of having ordered the 1992 killing of a Kurdish exile leader who died along with three aides in a hail of bullets at a Berlin restaurant. Five alleged agents of Iran's secret service, and Iranian and four Lebanese, are on tr ial here for the killings. In January, a German counterintelligence officer testified at the trial that his agency believed Iran ordered the operation. Iran has denied any involvement.

"The suspect has been head of the ministry since 1989; and said in an interview with Iranian television a few weeks before the attack that his agency was targeting the murder victims' party and would pursue them in Iran and abroad," the prosecutor said .

The head of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Massoud Rajavi, issued a statement from his Paris headquarters welcoming the warrant. He said it proved that Tehran was engaged in "exporting terrorism and assassinating Iranian dissidents...."

Exiled Iranian opposition figures have long maintained that Iran's embassy in Bonn is a center from which terrorist actions throughout Europe are planned...

Dissidents Urge Summit Press Tehran

PARIS (AP) Mar. 12 - An Iranian opposition group urged the anti-terrorism summit in Egypt this week to adopt "a firm and practical policy" against Iran, which it called "the fountainhead of terrorism."

In a telegram to heads of state attending Wednesday's conference Sharm el-Sheikh, Massoud Rajavi, president of the National Council for Resistance of Iran, faulted the European policy of maintaining ties with Tehran.

Rajavi cited such "placating policies as `transforming the regime through economic ties,' or `critical dialogue,' which in practice have utterly failed," Rajavi said in a version of the statement faxed to the news media.

"Peace and stability will only come with the overthrow of this regime and the establishment of freedom and democracy in Iran," the statement said. Rajavi called for an end to "critical dialogue" and for trade sanctions against Tehran.

Arafat Blames Iran's Rulers

AFP, Mar. 16 - Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestinian state, referred to Iran by name and accused this country of commanding the recent fundamentalist bombings in Israel. Speaking to a gathering of 500 Palestinians in Gaza, he said: "This is my right t o ask myself who has ordered these bombings." He added: "Yes, this is certainly ordered by Iran and a few Arab countries."

Alain Juppe: Iran must Condemn Terrorism

AFP, Mar. 17 - Alain Juppe, the French Prime Minister Sunday said Iran was condemn terrorism in no uncertain terms and support the Middle East Peace Process... He said, "If the Iranian officials really want to convince us that they oppose terrorism, they must say it." He added: "France supports those who support the Peace Process, and no one else."

Iran's Visible Hand in Terrorism

The Washington Times, Mar. 14 - Iran's terrorist program has several targets. One target is Israel and the concomitant Middle East peace process. Western governments have just held a summit in Egypt to discuss measures which might be taken again st Iran and other governmental supporters of terrorism. A second target is, of course, the United States. The third target is rarely mentioned: Tehran's war against Iranian exiles living in Western Europe....The organized campaign adjacent the exiles in W estern Europe emanates from the Iranian Embassy in Bonn and is under the direction of a diplomat by the name of Vahid Attarian. Some 15,000 Iranian expatriates live in Germany....

The Iranian Parliament ratified legislation two years ago legalizing punitive actions of overseas dissidents "who conspire against Islam." Therefore, a planning session of the Iranian National Security Council followed on Oct. 28, 1995, chaired by Pres ident Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, which according to the Council, organized an all-out campaign dissidents in Western Europe.

There really is no secret about Iran's long terrorist reach into Middle East politics and into Western Europe. Tehran Radio is full of reports of meetings with Hezbollah leaders stationed in Damascus. That is one of the reasons why an exasperated Israe li Prime Minister , Shimon Peres, in an interview over French television March 7 called upon European Union countries to "stop flirting with the Iranians." He added that Iran "is in my view more dangerous than Nazism because Hitler did not possess a nucle ar bomb, whereas the Iranians are trying to perfect a nuclear option."

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