The French government has imprisoned an Iranian opposition activist in Paris, Mr. Ahmad Fahimi (a/k/a/ Khosrow), on libel charges filed by the Islamic Republic of Iran's French embassy and by the Paris resident of the Iranian intelligence service.
This extraordinary action, unprecedented in Europe or the Free World, constitutes an unacceptable attack on the statute of political refugees, and has clearly been taken by the French government as a favor to the Tehran regime.
Mr. Fahimi was apprehended in Paris on September 18, 1998 by the French counter-intelligence service, the DST (Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire), and was held incommunicado until October 6. He has been on hunger strike since his arrest. After 22 days in jail, his life is now in danger.
Mr. Fahimi is the French representative of the Organization of the Iranian People's Fedayeen Guerrillas, a left-wing group which has renounced the use of violence and opposes the Tehran regime through political means. Several years ago the group infiltrated an Iranian government bank in Paris, the Bank Sepah, and published documents from the bank's archives which exposed the embarrassing extent of government-to-government cooperation between Paris and Tehran.
Mr. Fahimi met regularly with the DST in Paris as the group's designated liaison officer to the government of France. He was arrested on Sept. 18 during a pre-arranged meeting with DST officers in Paris.
The Foundation has sent official inquiries to the Government of France, which until now have remained without a reply, as to the charges against Mr. Fahimi. While we expect that the French government will attempt to indict Mr. Fahimi of common criminal offenses, the fact that no indictment has yet been announced is an indication of the French government's bad faith, which the Foundation deplores.
The French government has been putting pressure on the People's Fedayeen Guerrillas for more than three years, following the exposure by the group of 14 Iranian regime agents operating under Embassy and commercial cover in Paris. A lawsuit by the group seeking the arrest of regime intelligence operatives in France was accepted by a Paris court in July 1998.
French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine visited Tehran in August, preparing the way for a state visit to France by President Khatami in November. The Foundation has reason to believe that Mr. Fahimi's arrest was requested by the Tehran government during Mr. Védrine's visit, as a gesture of "good faith" by the French government.
While understanding the difficulties France has had in welcoming political refugees from the Middle East, the Foundation deplores this latest French action, which runs contrary to the public commitments by the French people and by successive French governments to democracy and to the cause of freedom.
France still prides itself as the author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. By this action, the current government of France raises serious questions as to its commitment to the standards France herself contributed to creating some 200 years ago.
The Foundation for Democracy in Iran is a private, non-profit corporation registered in the State of Maryland. Contact: Kenneth R. Timmerman, Executive Director. Tel: (301) 946-2918. Fax: (301) 942-5341. FDI materials, including the FDI Newswire, are available free-of-charge via the Internet at http://www.iran.org