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* Iraqi seeks "alternative" Iraqi Kurdish leadership
* New Hezbollah group formed in Mashad
* Refah government to forge closer relations with IRI
* IRI seeks exiles' return - again
* Crime attributed to Rev. Guards imposters
* Four People Condemned To Death
* Rafsanjani money stake in University dispute
* Submarine building
* Culture Minister wields censor's scissors
* Growing poverty in Iran
* IRI plot rumored in Azerbaijan
* Mujahedin beat Marzieh's son
* Hundreds protest cancelled election in Rafsanjan
* Iranian terrorist suspects to appear in Paris court
Iraqi seeks "alternative" Iraqi Kurdish leadership
The Islamic Republic has invited fundamentalists Iraqi Kurds to Tehran to discus new strategies for extending the influence of the IRI into northern Iraq. The pretext for their presence in Iran was a ceremony commemorating the seventh anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Khomeini.
"We ask the Iranian regime to continue it's efforts to maintain peace in Iraqi Kurdistan," said Sheik Ali Abdolaziz , who was presented in the official press in Tehran as "the leader of the Islamic Movement of Iraq," and the representative of "the leaders of political parties and tribes of Iraqi Kurdistan."
The group of Iraqi Kurd fundamentalists met with Ali Aqa Mohammadi, personal representative of the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Khamene'i) in Iraqi Kurdistan and the regime's top Kurdish gun. "Western civilization is setting, and the renaissance of Islamic civilization is near," Mohammadi reportedly told his Kurdish visitors.
"The request for continued intervention of Iran to help Iraqi Kurds was presented by their representatives," said Kayhan daily, the mouthpiece of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). "The recent visit to Iraqi Kurdistan by an official American delegation failed to convince Kurds to distance them from Islamic Republic of Iran," Kayhan added [6/6].
According to other press reports Fuad Ma'soum, the representative of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and Sami Abdol-Rahman, from the rival Kurdish Democratic Party also came to Tehran with the Iraqi Kurdish delegation. [Resalat, 6/6]
New Hezbollah group formed in Mashad
A new Hezbollah group was created in Mashad, (the holy capital of the Iran's North-Eastern province), to "counter moral corruption," Sobh weekly reported. "Dozens of Hezbollah supporters in Mashad gathered in a mosque to announce the birth of the organization, Gavvamin-e Hezbollah (Hezbollah's Strengtheners)." Sobh is considered close to Ansar-e Hezbollah leader, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati.
At the first official gathering, Hojjat-ol eslam Sa'eli, an Islamic scholar at Mashad university, announced that the new organization would punish "all forms of misbehavior, immorality and corruption, as is Hezbollah's duty," Sobh reported. Sa'eli did not reveal who was behind the establishment of the new group, but did say he was working with the founders "as a consultant."
The group's next step, said Sa'eli, was to organize a "huge gathering" of Hezbollahi groups in Mashad. [Sobh weekly, 6/11]
Refah government to forge closer relations with IRI
Turkey's Islamic fundamentalist Welfare (Refah) party plans to forge closer relations with the Islamic Republic, according to recent statements by Refah leaders and by Prime Minister Necmeddin Erkaban.
"Iran is Turkey's most stable neighbor, we don't have territorial dispute, and our friendship with Iran is the most natural," said Refah Deputy Secretary General, Abdollah Gul, in a statement run by Iranian papers prior to Refah assuming power last Friday.
"Just because some countries have listed Iran as their enemy, Turkey does not have to do the same thing. By improving relations with Iran, Turkey's importance will increase in front of Europe, " Gul reportedly said.
Mr. Gul, whose interview in the Turkish paper "Yani Yuz Yip" was quoted extensively by IRNA, called Israel an aggressor government, and promised that Refah will cancel the recent Turkish- Israeli military agreement if it came to power.
"We are against Turkey's full membership in the European Union. We believe the world's future will be in Asia, so we can't bind our destiny only to Europe. We will try to recreate the Commonwealth Of Middle East Countries, a legacy of the Ottoman Empire. Our other priority will be to improve economic ties with Black Sea countries, " Gul reportedly said.
Turkey's new Prime Minister, Necmeddin Erkaban, backed off slightly from his earlier promise to cancel the security pact with Israel that was signed last February when presenting his Cabinet on June 29. Turkey would honor its international commitments, but in a reference to the agreement with Israel he said that "permission will not be given for implementations that are against national security and national interests." [Jomhouri-e Eslami daily, 6/11; The Iran Brief, 7/1]
IRI seeks exiles' return - again
Years after an earlier, failed attempt spearheaded by President Rafsanjani, the Islamic Republic is making a new attempt to lure exiled Iranians back home - as long as they transfer their assets to Iranian banks.
"One plan that should be considered seriously for the strengthening and development of the nation's industries is to make use of Iranian capital abroad," Industry Minister Mohammad Reza Ne'mat-Zadeh told a gathering in Isfahan recently. "Today, Iranians living in foreign countries have enormous assets. If a plan could be devised to bring this capital back into the country, it would be of great help in the development of our industry,"
Ne'mat-Zadeh confessed that the past year had been a dark one as far as industrial production was concerned. "Because of foreign currency policies and harsh governmental controls, production diminished in some sectors," he acknowledged. But contrary to most economic predictions, he promised that the current year, which started March 21, would be a "flourishing year for our industry" because many of these restrictions would be removed or reduced.
In earlier attempt to attract wealthy Iranian exiles to reinvest in their country, Rafsanjani sent his Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank to New York to appeal to the patriotism of Iranian businessmen. Those who did reinvest in Iran were repeatedly denounced by the Fourth Majlis.
Given this experience, and the Islamic Republic's growing economic isolation, even pro-government members of the new Majlis have expressed skepticism of Ne'mat-Zadeh's proposals. Said Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the new deputy from Rasht, rebuilding the country after the "thousand billion dollars" damages that resulted from the war with Iraq "will take a hundred years." He deplored the government's inability to raise foreign investment capital, saying it has resulted in a situation where the Iranian people "are trapped in a spiral of ever rising prices and inflation." [Resalat 6/6; Hamshahri 6/12].
Crime attributed to Rev. Guards impostors
The sharp rise in theft in recent months has got the attention of the government, which has pledged it will take new anti-crime measures.
Interior Minister Ali Mohammad Besharati said vaguely after a meeting of the National Security Council that the government would "try harder" to prevent crime.
Tehran residents say that apartment break-ins, car-thefts, armed robbery and muggings have become so common that "nobody feels secure anymore." In many cases recently, apartment burglars have appeared dressed in Pasdaran or LEF uniforms and displayed official documents to gain entry to private homes. When members of these organizations have been caught, the authorities pretend they are impostures or simply former Guardsmen, who have already left their units.
A desperate resident of Behbahan (Khuzestan province) called the Salam "Reader's line" on June 19 and left this message: "Theft and burglary is so widespread in Khuzestan that in a small town like Behbahan, despite the presence of very great number of Law Enforcement Forces, cases of theft increase daily and LEF officers can do nothing about it. We ask the authorities to do something to deal with this enormous problem of the people of Khuzestan."
Salam took up this appeal, saying that the paper had called the Deputy for Behbahan in the new Majlis. "He confirmed our reader's claim and said the Mayor of Behbahan has acknowledged the very high rate of theft in town, and the inability of the LEF to combat it." [Salam 6/12; Kayhan 6/12]
Four People Condemned To Death
Two men were condemned to death on charges of homicide by a court in Tangestan (South of Iran). They were identified as Abdolkarim Pouladi and Gholam-Reza Bushehri. Because they were also convicted of car theft, the court ruled that four fingers of their right hands be amputated in a separate punishment before their execution. No information concerning their trial or the date of their execution was given.
Another man, Abbas Mahmoudi-Nasab, was condemned to death on charges of homicide in Kerman, without any other information except the name of his victim.
A fourth man, Reza Ya'qoubi, was condemned in Zarrin Shahr to be punished by "qesas" (a form of blood revenge), after being convicted of having knifed a man to death during an armed robbery. Under the "qesas" ruling, family members of the victim are granted the right to kill the convicted murderer in exactly the same way has he killed his victim. The court ruled that after family members inflicts multiple stab wounds on Ya'quobi, he is to be left in a public square to bleed to death. [Kayhan 6/12]
Rafsanjani money stake in University dispute
The growing flap over "Islamization" of Iran's universities may have another, purely mercantile angle: President Rafsanjani's huge financial interest in Iran's growing private university system. In fact, Rafsanjani and members of his clan are the owners of Iran's largest university network, known as the Free Islamic University, or Daneshgah-e Azad Eslami.
The Free Islamic University has dozens of campuses across Iran, with an aggregate total of nearly 200,000 students. Complaints have surfaced in the Iranian press recently that Rafsanjani U lacks qualified teaching staff, lacks equipment, has a low academic level, and sets tuition fees beyond the reach of all but the wealthiest Iranian families. Still, as enrollment numbers attest, the Free Islamic University system is very popular among young Iranians, if for no other reason than the lack of Hezbollahi activity on its campuses.
"We don't have to ask permission from The Ministry of Culture and Higher Education to expand our university or change our policies," said Abdollah Jasbi, rector of the Free Islamic University. He was responding to charges leveled by the Deputy Minister of Culture and Higher Education, Hasan Shojai-Fard, who accused the University of "illogical" growth and "profiteering," when "our policy is that higher education should be state-run and free." Shojai-Fard called for an end to the expansion of Free Islamic University and demanded that any future growth be cleared by his ministry. [Salam, 6/12].
At a press conference held to reply to Shojai-Fard's accusations, Mr. Jasbi said that Free Islamic University planned to expand enrollment to accept 650,000 students in the coming years, whereas state-run universities plan to accommodate only 150,000 students during the same period.
In response to accusations of "licentiousness" on campus, Jasbi said the university was separating male and female students, "as in other universities." But he returned the charge against the state, saying that moral education began in the high schools. "We know that the number of veiled students has dropped in high schools. What can I do about that? I am not responsible of the whole country." [Salam 6/16]
Submarine building
In its last attempt to become a regional military superpower, Islamic Republic has taken to building submarines.
Salam has reported that the new all-Iranian submarine will be called "Blue robot," and that it has already passed the R&D phase and is "almost 40% ready." The first prototype is under construction at the Technical University of Isfahan," the paper said.
Salam criticized the authorities for prematurely disclosing these kind of secret plans "at a time when the world is afraid of our military might and intentions." [Salam 6/17]
Culture Minister wields censor's scissors
Culture Minister Mostafa Mir-Salim has personally censored the "Encyclopedia of World Literature," insisting it be retitled "The Encyclopedia of Cheap [mobtazal] World Literature" if it is to be published in Iran.
The book, translated from English and published by a famous Iranian publisher, was at first rejected by the censor at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance on the pretext of "containing quotations from foreign books and writers carrying Nihilistic, apostasy and anti-religious messages."
The publisher protested the decision, but was told by a deputy to Mir-Salim that the book "would not be considered a positive precedent" in the publisher's record. "This is a Encyclopedia of Cheap World Literature, which shows immoral, stale and unholy aspects of world literature. So publishing 5500 copies of it is not necessary."
Sobh praised the Minister's decision this way: "With the dismissal of the Deputy Minister of Cultural affairs and the appointment of Mr. Alireza Barazesh and Mr. Alireza Mokhtar-Pour [to the Censor's office], we are witnessing a positive trend in the Ministry. Now no more harmful, anti-religious, atheistic and immoral books are being printed or reprinted." Sobh weekly 6/18]
Growing poverty in Iran
The gap between rich and poor has widened dramatically in Iran, officials say.. Today, the global income of the richest 10% of Iranians is 2322 times more than that of poor people, and most of the country's facilities are used by the rich," the head of the governmental Trade Expansion Services Company told directors of the Trade Ministry.
"Unfortunately, the living conditions of 40% of the population who constitute the middle classes, including government and civil employees, is more tragic than ever," he added.
At the same meeting Mr. Yahya Al-e-Eshaq, the Trade Minister said: "Iran is not a poor country, therefore the existence of poverty in the country is the result of the lack of planning, poor management and incapability in coordinating economic matters ." Kayhan 6/20]
IRI plot rumored in Azerbaijan
\A previously unknown group called "Freedom Loving Azeris of Iran" (Azarihay-e Azadeh Iran), has launched propaganda activities against the Baku government from inside Iran. The first statement by the group condemned the government of Azerbaijan for the recent arrest of religious opposition figures.
In a second statement, the group protested the arrest of Azeri Islamic opposition personalities including Karbela'i Qolief, "who died in prison and under torture," the group claimed. The group claimed that another detainee had suffered mental damage caused by torture.
The appearance of FLZI statements in the official Iranian press suggests that the group is receiving direct support from Tehran, if it was not in fact created by the Islamic Republic as a tool in its war of nerves with Baku. [Resalat 6/20]
Mujahedin beat Marzieh's son
Dozens of Mujahedin-e Khalq guards beat the son of Marzieh, the famous Iranian singer, before thousands of astonished spectators at a recent concert at Earl's Court in London.
The son, Mahmoud Malak- Afzali, had not seen his mother for years, and traveled to London from the U.S. in hopes of being able to reach her. Toward the end of the concert, he tried to approach the stage, but was dragged away and beaten in front of other spectators by the Mujahidin guards. Since then, he says, the Mujahidin have said "they will kill me" if he makes another attempt to see his mother.
In a letter to Mr. Maurice D. Copithorne, Special Representative for Iran of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, Malak-Afzali wrote that he had tried to reach his mother for two years but had never received any reply from the Mujahidin. "My mother is held hostage by this group," he claimed.
When he heard about his mother's concert in London, he decided to make one more attempt to see Marzieh.
"Towards the end of the program, I ran towards my mother, trying to get her attention, and then said loudly, 'Marzieh, sing, always sing....but sing for 70,000,000 Iranians..." When Marzieh tried to get close to her son with open arms, "three dozens of trained mercenary staff of the Mujahedin took me away and beat me to such a state that for 48 hours I had difficulty breathing," he told an audience on Radio Sedaye Iran, an opposition radio station in Los Angeles.
The Mujahidin claims the incident was stage-managed by the Islamic Republic, and that Malak-Afzali is not even Marzieh's son.
In his letter to the UN's Copithorne, Malak-Afzali asked for help because the Mujahidin "tell me that they will kill me."
Informed Iranians living in Paris, speaking to FDI, confirmed Malak-Afzali's assertion that Marzieh "lives almost a hostage's life in the hands of Mujahedin. She can't move freely or see her friends freely. She even warns her friends indirectly that her conversations are controlled." She lives in safe houses with dozens of Mujahedin "companions". An Iranian film maker who was allowed to see Marzieh in Paris, on her request, said "she seemed to be very depressed."
Soon after Marzieh joined Mujahedin two years ago, they announced the arrest of her daughter, Hengameh, in Tehran by the regime. But Hengameh subsequently surfaced and told the Iranian press the information a lie. [Radio Sedaye Iran 6/21].
Hundreds protest canceled election in Rafsanjan
Hundreds of people took to the streets of Rafsanjan on June 21, to protest the rejection by the Majlis of their deputy's credentials, Salam reported [6/22].
Mr. Hamid Bahrami Ahmadi was elected on the first round of parliamentary elections on March 8, beating out a relative of President Hashemi-Rafsanjani who had served in parliament for the previous 16 years.
According to Salam, the demonstration by Mr. Bahrami-Ahmadi supporters was put down by the Law Enforcement Forces, who clubbed demonstrators. Following the demonstration, any gathering of more than 3 people was declared illegal.
"The town center was invaded by LEF and soldiers," a local resident told Reuters.
Mr. Bahrami resigned from Parliament on June 16, after a Majlis committee announced it had rejected his credentials. His resignation was formally accepted on June 21, sparking the demonstration. According to election regulations, new elections should be held, in which Bahrami can - at least in theory - take part.
Salam has subsequently reported that Bahrami is under investigation by a Special committee of the Majlis, who have accused him of having worked as an informer for SAVAK, the Shah's security forces. He also stands accused of having had relations in the 1970s with the Mujahidin, and in the 1980s, when he served as an Iranian representative at the International Court in the Hague, of having voted in favor of American companies in the series of lawsuits that has dragged on since 1981 between the U.S. and Iran. [Salam 6/27]
Bahrami-Ahmadi is a well-known lawyer, and served as Governor-General of Kerman province (which includes Rafsanjan) during the Barzargan government. He later served as representative of Islamic Republic of Iran at the Hague court.
Bahrami's background was well known to Council of Guardians, who approved his candidature in the elections, making his rejection now all the more suspicious.
Three month ago, when a radical student's weekly ran an investigative news article on the Rafsanjani clan and their hold on Rafsanjan, the paper was shut down and its Publisher prosecuted. [Salam 6/22]
Iranian terrorist suspects to appear in Paris court
Two Iranians arrested in Paris for their alleged role in plots to assassinate Iranian opposition leaders in exile will go to trial on Sept. 26, according to a statement released by the Flag of Freedom Organization, an exile group based in Paris.
The two men, Hossein Yasand-Sete and Mojtaba Mashadi, stand accused for their involvement in plans to kill as many as six Iranian exiles and have been in custody since December 16, 1993, judicial sources in France said. The two were arrested after they were caught attempting to case out the home of Col. Hassan Aghilipour, another exile leader, who lives near Paris.[The Iran Brief 7/1]
According to the Flag of Freedom statement, Mashadi was involved in planning the assassination of Cyrus Elahi, a Flag of Freedom member who was gunned down in Paris on Oct. 23, 1990 and who was also a U.S. citizen. Mashadi was also allegedly involved in the plots to kill Shoja'edin Shafa, Reza Mazlouman (who was eventually assassinated on May 27 this year in Paris), Ayatollah Mehdi Rouhani (an FDI board member), Princess Ashraf Pahlavi and Manuchehr Gandji in 1989. The plans were hatched, Gandji's group says, following a meeting in Tehran between Mashadi and Iran's Minister of Intelligence and Security, Ali Fallahian.
Mashadi succeeded in penetrating Gandji's organization, the FFO acknowledges, through an aide to Dr. Gandji who was subsequently arrested by the French for drug smuggling.
In December 1993, Yasand-Sete tried again to hunt down Gandji, but he was arrested before he could act. [FFO statement 6/26].