FDI's Weekly Newswire

FDI WEEKLY NEWSWIRE NO 10

June 24, 1996

CONTENTS

* Clinton offers to negotiate with Tehran

* Crackdown on Shirazi followers...

* ...and on INP Youth Organization

* Iranian hard-liners... in St. Louis

* Mahdavi-Kani supports Hezbollahi

* Rev. Guards Missile Sight Inaugurated

* Jody Foster to Iran?

* "We Fought Video, and We Lost"

* Planes and choppers planned

* Women's Cycling Banned In Chitgar Park

* Two Executed in Zarin Shahr

* Three Executed in Mashad

* Jewish businessman found murdered

* Tehran Mayor, Rafsanjani, challenge Bazaaris

* Appliance prices skyrocket

* Marzieh's son assaulted by Mujahidin

Clinton offers to negotiate with Tehran

President Clinton has made a gesture of reconciliation to theIslamic Republic of Iran only three days after the House ofRepresentatives unanimously passed tough new legislation that wouldtighten the economic screws on Tehran.

In an interview appearing in an Arabic-language weekly publishedin London on Saturday, President Clinton said the United States was"prepared at any time to have a full and frank dialogue" with theTehran regime. "Our only condition is that such a dialogue must bewith an authoritative, official representative of the Iraniangovernment," he added. Unofficial Iranian intermediaries continue toply the State Department and the White House with proposals, despitethe increasingly hostile public rhetoric between the twocountries.

In the interview with As Sharq al Awsat, which has not beenreleased by the White House in English, Clinton said that the UnitedStates "does not seek to overthrow the government of the IslamicRepublic of Iran. Nor do we seek a military confrontation withIran."

Senior administration officials argue that such comments do notconstitute a deviation of U.S. policy. "The U.S. has called for afrank dialogue with Iran on many occasions in the past, but Iran hasalways refused" the U.S. offers, one official said.

Clinton also restated U.S. opposition to objectionable "behavior"by the Tehran regime, including its support for internationalterrorism and its alleged nuclear weapons program, and said that U.S.sanctions were intended to maintain pressure on Iran to change thisbehavior. "My administration continues to urge others to take similaractions," the newspaper quotes the President as saying.

Tehran newspapers reacted triumphantly to President Clinton'sstatements. Kayhan daily ran a banner headline on its front page onSaturday: "Clinton requests negotiations with Tehran." Aftertranslating the interview, the state-run paper commented that Clintonwas behaving "like a drunk bastard shouting in the street... Heshould be treated like a thug."

Iranians in close contact with the Tehran regime warn thatClinton's statements, which seem to be intended to mollify the regimein Tehran, may have just the opposite effect. "It's not what he said,but when and where he said it," said one well-informed Iranianobserver. "Tehran has interpreted these statements as a show ofweakness by President Clinton and the U.S. administration. I believethat as result we are going to see more assassinations of Iraniandissidents in exile, a crackdown on the regime's political opponentsat home, and attacks on U.S. and Israeli citizens overseas. This willonly embolden the regime." [Iranfax 6/23; Washington Times6/24]

Crackdown on Shirazi followers...

The regime has launched a crackdown on followers of GrandAyatollah Mohammad Shirazi, arrested his 21-year old son, Seyed MehdiShirazi, on June 19, and other followers in separate arrests. On June21, Grand Ayatollah Shirazi's representative in Tehran, Hojjat-oleslam Sheikh Azizollah Hassaini, was arrested at his home by armedsecurity agents. At the same time, armed security agents surroundedGrand Ayatollah Shirazi's Tehran home, leading to fears that furtherarrests may be imminent.

These latest moves are "part of a consistent pattern of harassmentagainst followers of Grand Ayatollah Shirazi and other dissidentreligious leaders by the authorities of the Islamic Republic," astatement issued by the FDI board said. [See Action Memorandum015 [HOT LINK TO HUMAN RIGHTS PAGE].

...and on INP Youth Organization

In a statement released in Tehran on June 20, 1996, the YouthOrganization of the Iran Nation's Party, a banned but toleratedopposition group, announced that two of its activists had beenarrested in Kermanshah on June 10 on accusations of "readingopposition books" and transmitting them to others. The two,identified as Reza Bakhtiari and Parviz Youssef Shahi, were engagedin non-violent political activities, the INP said. During a search oftheir houses, the authorities seized hundreds of newspapers andmagazines, as well as a photocopier and a typewriter. [See ActionMemorandum 015 [HOT LINK TO HUMAN RIGHTS PAGE].

Iranian hard-liners... in St. Louis

The London-based "Supporters of Iranian Muslim Nation," which hasties to many of Iran's dissident Grand Ayatollahs, regularly warnsabout what it calls the "travesty of Islam" perpetrated by theIslamic Republic

When the group sent some of their anti-regime statements toanother Iranian Islamic Group in St. Louis, Missouri recently, theyseem to have been expecting a warm response. Instead, they received apro-Khomeini letter, laced with threats, from the head of the St.Louis Islamic Shiite Society, a certain Dr. Mohammed Shahriari.Clearly the dispute between pro-and anti- regime religious leadershas spilled over from Qom and Mashad to the outside world.

Dr. Shahriari denounced the London group for their criticism ofthe regime's behavior toward dissident Shiite clerics, many of whomhave been jailed, tortured, and in some cases executed over the pastten years. Shahriari accused the London group of collaboration with"Hypocrite B.B.C. radio, Zionist propaganda tools, and Saudi agents.

Shahriari vowed that anti-Khomeini and anti Islamic Republicgroups would fail in their attacks on the Islamic Republic, because"God will save the Koran and Islam." [FDI documents].

Mahdavi-Kani supports Hezbollahi

Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi-Kani, who resigned as head of themain Combatant Clergy Association five months ago and who has longbeen regarded as a "moderate" cleric, has come out publicly insupport of Ansar-e Hezbollah, saying their action is "based onIslamic values and Islamic law."

In comments made to students at Imam Sadeq University, where heserves as rector, Mahdavi-Kani said there were some influentialcircles "who say Islam has nothing to do with force. This is wrong.We can't put aside Hezbollahi on the pretext that they are ruiningIslam. We can't step on all Islamic matters for the sake of somepeople who want to solve problems in peaceful ways,"

Mahdavi-Kani accused liberals of having made a huge mistake inseeking to separate the clergy from the government. "We should notlet them destroy our Islamic values, in the name of freedom orliberalism... These kind of statements are against Islamic values.These people want to separate Islam from politics." He also took acrack at the visit of three members of the European Parliament, whohad asked to visit Grand Ayatollahs Sadegh Rouhani and MohammadShirazi in Qom. [Ettelaat 6/20]

Mahdavi Kani's remarks were reprinted in official newspapers,apparently to demonstrate his support for Khamenei's order toIslamize Iranian universities. "We should only let those people enteruniversities who are morally and religiously fit to attend," hesaid.

Ayatollah Yazdi, the head of Judiciary, announced last week thatnew legislation for the Islamization of the universities will be sentto Majlis soon. [Ettelaat 6/20]

In an unrelated move on Saturday, the Combatant Clergy Associationelected Ayatollah Emami Kashani to replace Mahdavi-Kani as the leaderof their group. [Resalat 6/22]

Rev. Guards Missile Sight Inaugurated

The first Rev. Guards missile training sight was recentlyinaugurated in an undisclosed location, to train new recruits of theRev. Guards College of Artillery and Missiles.

Several Rev. Guards commanders attended the inaugural ceremony,including R.G.General Amin Sharifi, Substitute to the commander ofthe Rev. Guards Ground Forces commander, who emphasized on thenecessity of increasing the fire power of artillery and missile unitsof Rev. Guards. [Resalat 6/2]

Jody Foster to Iran?

UNESCO Director General Federico Mayer has accepted a proposalfrom newly-elected Majlis deputy Faezeh Hashemi, to organize aninternational seminar, called "Cinema and Women" next fall in Tehran.Ms. Hashemi is the daughter of President Hashemi-Rafsanjani.

Sobh, a hard line weekly close to Ali Khamene'i, quoted "Mediasources" as saying that Hollywood stars including Jody Foster wereexpected to take part. "Jody Foster has played role in many "stale"Hollywood films," Sobh commented. The tone of Sobh's commentarysuggested that Rafsanjani's opponents do not intend to give hisdaughter an easy ride in the Majlis. [Sobh weekly, 6/5]

"We Fought Video, and We Lost"

"We fought video and we lost, and our fight with satellite TVantennas will be lost too," Mr. Hasan Ghafouri-Fard, an adviser toPresident Rafsanjani and a deputy in 5th. Majlis told Iran dailyrecently. "Banning satellite antennas is useless in the face oftechnological advances. It may buy us time, but we should search fora real solution to fight western 'cultural assault'. This is the mainchallenge of the 5th Majlis," he said.

Gafouri-Fard was broadly critical of many policies of thegovernment.

Iran's tiny national research budget, which he estimated at $267million per year, or "35 times less that of Westinghouse Co., whichspends $7 B. a year," was the main reason "why we can't exportanything but raw materials," he said.

He blamed high prices on the government's repressive economicpolicies. "From the day we started to punish 'profiteers' as a meansof fighting high prices, all prices have risen steeply. Our problemis not greed of shopkeepers, but the low productivity and high costsof industrial production."

"It is very nice that we are now producing more and more steel andcement, but these products so flood the world that many industrialcountries have stopped producing them," he said.

He also took aim at the Islamic Republic's population policies,which have caused a population explosion "These young people will beentering the universities and the labor market, and this is our mainchallenge, because they need housing, health, etc...." [IRANdaily 6/5]

Planes and choppers planned

Mr. Ali-Mohammad Nourian, the head of the state-owned IranAircraft Industries, announced on June 4 that his company will soonbuild pilot-training aircraft, a 12-passenger commuter aircraft, anda helicopter. He was speaking at the test flight of an Iranian-builtglider aircraft at Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran..

Nourian told IRNA that the twin pilot plane had been designed andbuilt by Iranians during in a 5 months period, and would be built asa joint venture between "Pars Par Avar" and the Revolutionary GuardsImam Hussein University.

"Six of these planes will be produced this year. We have already signed contracts with the Iranian Center of Aeronautic Technology andthe Basij Aviation Club, who want to buy ten of these aircraft."[Jomhouri-e Eslami 6/5]

Women's Cycling Banned In Chitgar Park

The only public park in Iran that had allowed women cycles has nowdeclared the sport off limits, the anti-corruption police have said.The reason: because such behavior creates a "non-Islamic atmosphere"in the park, despite the fact the women are required to wear fullIslamic veils while on their bikes.

The Chitgar Park near Tehran became famous a few months ago whenFaezeh Hashemi, the daughter of president Rafsanjani, came out insupport of the women cyclists, who had come under attack fromHezbollahi assailants. The women were accused of "sending sexualsignals" to men while on their bikes, and of trying to fight theIslamic regime through western behavior.

Once Ms. Rafsanjani backed off in her support of women sportsactivities, the LEF stationed troops in the park, physicallyseparating women from men, while an Islamic Revolutionary Court wasset up to punish "Corrupters" on the spot. But even this was notenough for the Ansar-e Hezbollah group, which has since ordered womenout of the park. [Jomhouri-e Eslami 6/5]

Two Executed in Zarin Shahr

Two men, identified as Reza Yaqoubi and Aref Lotfi, have beenhanged in Zarin Shahr on charges of homicide. "They were found guiltyby a court, and their sentences confirmed by the Supreme Court,"Hamshahri reported. The paper gave no details about the date of theircrimes, trial, or execution. [Hamshahri 6/6]

Three Executed in Mashad

Three men were hanged in Mashad on charges of homicide, theft, and"Acts insulting to women in public places," Kayhan reported.

Khalil Qasem-Zadeh Tehrani, Mostafa Firouzi and Mohammad Porouzi,were said to be members of a gang called "Scorpion" created six yearsago. The paper said the three were sentenced to death by arevolutionary court in Mashad, with the sentence approved by theSupreme Court in Tehran. The paper published no details about theexact date and circumstances of the crimes, nor of their trail andthe judicial procedures.

In its account, Kayhan tried to give the hangings an"anti-Western" bent, to provide a moral lesson to its readers. "Justbefore his execution, Khalil said the reason he had descended intocrime was the "corruption and immoral behavior of my parents, seeingcorrupting Western films and videos, and going to parties," Kayhanstated. The paper did not say when or where Khalil made suchstatements. [Kayhan 6/9]

These executions bring to 42 the total number of executions duringthe current Iranian year, which began on March 21. The execution of56 persons have been reported since Jan. 1, 1996 [FDI database].

Jewish businessman found murdered

A Jewish businessman was found dead under suspicious circumstanceson June 15, in his office in downtown Tehran. Mr Saeid Lameh as theowner of a medical equipment company and shop in Valli-e Asi Avenuein Tehran.

The LEF told the family his death was a criminal act probablycarried out by thieves, some reports suggest he was killed because hewas a Jew. [INP statement, 6/22]

Tehran Mayor, Rafsanjani, challenge Bazaaris

Tehran's controversial Mayor, Gholam-Reza Karbaschi, orderedpolice to close the business offices and stalls of well-knownbazaaris on June 15, in a dramatic challenge to the influentialsupport networks of Nateq-Nouri and the ruling conservativeclerics.

Police shut hundreds of booths and stalls in the Tehran'sdifferent open air markets. Karbaschi demanded that the Bazaarisdismantle the shops, which he claimed had been occupied "illegally."The municipality also announced it would confiscate land the Bazaarishad for parking lots. [Resalat 6/17]

Karbaschi's men were said to have locked up the booths whilehundreds of workers were still inside. According to the conservativedailies, many employees remained inside for two days.

On Sunday evening, Rafsanjani joined the fray, accusing theBazaaris and their Hojerehs (import-export offices) of "trying totorpedo the economic policies of the government," and promised "toughnew measures against the Bazaaris." [Resalat 6/18].Rafsanjani was said to have been particularly angry with Bazaariattempts to prevent his newly-created Refah food chain stores fromspreading, since the stores were directly competing with thetraditional food distribution networks of the Bazaar.

In response, hundreds of Bazaaris staged a demonstration in frontof the main fruit and vegetable market (Sabzeh Maydan) on Sundayevening, shouting hostile slogans against Rafsanjani and Karbaschi.

The standoff came to an end when Interior Minister Besharatiordered The Law Enforcement Forces to intervene against Karbaschi'smen, opening the booths and freeing those trapped inside. [Abrar6/18]. Once the Bazaar had reopened, the Bazaaris remainedunrepentant, and in an unprecedented move announced on Wednesday,June 19, that they would not pay taxes claimed by the Tehranmunicipality. [Salam 6/20].

Appliance prices skyrocket

The price of Iranian-made household appliances has risen by 60% infew weeks, major papers reported, following a 70% increase inInternational Telephone rates announced on June 12

Quoting the public relations office of Iran's Central Bank, IRNAsaid that prices have risen 44.2% in a single month, from March 21 toApril 20. Consumer goods were up 60% over the past year, and theprice of a refrigerator now costs the equivalent of two years salaryfor a government employee. [Salam, Jomhouri-e Eslami6/18]

Marzieh's son assaulted by Mujahidin

Iranian exiles who attended a concert in London last Fridayevening reported that the son of the famous Iranian diva Marzieh wasphysically assaulted by Mujahidin guards, when he attempted toaddress his mother on the concert stage. He called to her to "singfor the nation of Iran, not for the Mujahidin," eye-witnesses said,before he was beaten back by security guards.