FDI's Weekly Newswire

The life and [troubled] times of the IslamicRepublic of Iran

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FDI WEEKLY NEWSWIRE NO 18

Sept. 02, 1996

Ayatollah Rouhani said that Turkey has "dreamed and aspired tosigning such a deal" with Iran since the 1970s. He criticized thelower-than-market price Turkey would pay for Iranian natural gas. "Toretain authoritarian power, the Iranian regime is ready to not onlysquander all the national resources, but also the very interests ofthe Iranian people and nation."

Rouhani, who is the spiritual leader of the Shiite community inEurope, said that Iranians who know the details of the contract "canfind no legitimate value with this contract." [Iran Brief9/2]

Baha'is deported from Turkey

Twenty-one Iranians, twenty of whom were members of the Baha'ifaith, "disappeared" at the Turko-Iranian border on August 7, theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported, after theIranians had been told in Ankara to file their requests for politicalasylum with the border authorities. According to eyewitness accounts,a Turkish police bus carrying the asylum seekers was seen thatmorning at the border town of Agri, heading for Maku, Iran with the21 Iranians on board. The bus returned empty to Agri thatevening.

A Turkish businessman who had been at the border that evening saidhe had witnessed a group of about 20 persons being deported by theTurkish police. His attention was drawn to the incident by the cryingand screaming of the women and children, who begged the Turkishofficers not to send them back to Iran.

The Baha'is had approached the UNHCR in Ankara on August 6,seeking political asylum, but were told that they had to report tothe Turkish authorities at the nearest police station to their pointof entry, which was Agri. To assure the group's safety during thetrip to the border, the UNHCR informed the Turkish Ministry ofInterior about their travel plans.

The Turkish authorities, however, have denied any knowledge of theincident, which is still under investigation by the UNHCR. Ankara hastold the UNHCR that the Turkish government has "no policy" requiringthe expulsion of asylum seekers, and that such decisions are usuallytaken by the border police, who have been granted sweeping powers ofarrest, expulsion, and "hot pursuit" across the borders aftersuspected terrorists.

As members of an outlawed faith, the deported Baha'is faceimprisonment and possible death sentences in Iran. The Foundation forDemocracy in Iran has protested the deportation to the Turkishauthorities, and has called on the government of the Islamic Republicnot to persecute the returned deportees because of their faith ortheir attempt to seek political aslyum. [FDI Action Memorandum8/31; The Iran Brief 9/2]

Rafsanjani aid blasts PLO, praises Hamas

A top Rafsanjani aid, Ataollah Mohajerani, blasted the PLO andpraised Hamas and Islamic Jihad, in an Aug. 20 meeting in Tehran withthe Palestinian ambassador.

Mohajerani, who is vice president of the Islamic Republic forparliamentary affairs and also heads the "Special Committee for theSupport of the Palestinian Cause," called the PLO a "betrayer" of thePalestinian people. "By denying their true rights, and by the tortureand intimidation of Palestinian fighters, the PLO is playing into thehands of the Zionists," he was quoted as saying.

But Mohajerani was all praise for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, andnoted that "the intifada is spreading" despite Arafat's attempts toprevent stone-throwing youths from attacking Israelis. "This movementwill be the decisive factor in the fate of the Palestinians,"Mohajerani said.

It was unclear whether he was meeting with the PLO representativeto Tehran, or with a representative of the rival groups. [KayhanInternational, 8/19]

Three men hanged, fourth reprieved

Three men were hanged and a fourth reprieved as he stood on thescaffold inside Tehran's Qasr prison with the noose around his neckon Aug 21.

Ahmad Reza Papar, 21, watched as three other prisoners were hangedbefore his eyes. When his turn came, the executioner put the noosearound his neck... and then the parents of the victim he had beenconvicted of murdering agreed to pardon him, and he was brought downfrom the scaffold.

Under the Islamic Republic's unique judicial code, the familymembers of a murder victim may "forgive" a murderer by acceptingblood money in payment for his crime.

The name of the three other hanged men were not released, nor weretheir alleged crimes described. [Kayhan, 8/22]. A subsequentaccount of the execution, appearing in Jomhouri-e Eslami two dayslater, failed to mention Papar's reprieve and said that four men hadbeen hanged that day.

Islamic CDs to counter satanic software

The Islamic Republic authorities have announced they will soon beproducing CD-ROM video games, to counter "corrupt Western computergames."

"One of the aspects of [western] cultural assault againstour Islamic values is a computer assault. The enemy is targeting uswith its ominous and anti-cultural software," said Mohammad HusseinAli-Mohammadi, head of the Islamic Revolution Cultural DocumentationOrganization. "Our youth has been singled out as the target of thiscampaign."

Ali-Mohammadi's organization claims to have produced computervideo games and CD-ROMs inspired by scenes from the "Imposed War,"the 1980-1988 conflict between Iran and Iraq. With texts in Farsi,Arabic, and English, the new CD-ROMs will be released on theanniversary of the outbreak of the war in September. [Kayhan8/20]

Rafsanjani defeats sanctions

President Hashemi-Rafsanjani has won the battle against U.S.sanctions single-handed, a top aid said in a recent speech, becauseof his "brilliant leadership."

Speaking in Zanjan, the capital of the northwestern province ofthe same name, Deputy Minister of Information and Security, Hojjat-oleslam Pour-Mohammadi said that Rafsanjani's leadership had sothoroughly defeated U.S. plots to isolate Iran that the IslamicRepublic "has succeeded in joining the main centers of influence onthe international scene in political and cultural issues.... Today,even U.S. allies have discovered that they can't ignore Iran, orsever ties with it."

This tremendous turn-around in the international stature of theIslamic Republic was the result of the "amazing reconstructionprocess undertaken through the brilliant leadership of PresidentHashemi-Rafsanjani," he added.

The comments from this top intelligence official appear to be partof a campaign currently underway in official circles in Iran, torefurbish Rafsanjani's image after the drubbing he took in thisspring's Majlis elections. [Jomhouri-e Eslami, 8/24]

Party-goers fined, whipped, and jailed

Law Enforcement Force agents raided a house in Shemiran, anorthern Tehran suburb, and arrested 28 teen-agers on charges ofattending a "nocturnal party," Kayhan reported on Aug 24.

The paper said the LEF was alerted by a "popular report,"Hezbollahi jargon for a complaint call by a neighbor.

The youths, aged between 17 and 20, were quickly sentenced by anIslamic judge. All of them received 10 lashes and a fine of 100,000rials (around $33). Three of them were given unspecified jail terms.The owner of the house where they party took place, who was also themother of one of the arrested girls, was also arrested and fined500,000 rials ($166).

The LEF "found and confiscated music records, unauthorizedcassette tapes, compact discs, and 41 corrupt video cassettes,"Kayhan reported.

While such raids have long been a familiar feature of life underthe Islamic Republic, the authorities have stepped up the pressure inrecent months, apparently in an effort to instill fear into thepopulation. [Kayhan 8/24]

Shirazi supporters released, others still held

Faced with international pressure from groups including theFoundation for Democracy in Iran and Amnesty International, theIslamic Republic released ten supporters of Grand Ayatollah MohammadShirazi. However, 18 other followers, including two of GrandAyatollah Shirazi's sons, still remain in prison and face stiffsentences from the Special court of the Clergy, which is headed byformer Intelligence Minister Ali Akbar Rayshahri.

Of particular concern is the health of Grand Ayatollah YaqoubodinRastaghari, aged 70, who was abducted from his home in Qom inFebruary 1996. Ayatollah Rastaghari was reported taken to a Tehranhospital at the end of August to receive medical attention forinjuries caused by torture.

Like the supporters of Grand Ayatollah Shirazi, Rastaghari is apolitical prisoner who has been jailed because of his public refusalto accept the authorities of Ayatollah Khamene'i. A follower of thelate Grand Ayatollah Shari'at Madaari, Rastaghari has been arrestedon several previous occasions, and received a 30-month prisonsentence shortly after Shari'at Madaari's death in 1986 for holding amemorial service. Shortly after his release, he was arrested again oncharges of holding a public prayer service at a mosque in Qom withouta government permit.

Rastaghari has publicly disputed the right of the regime tocontrol the clergy, and has rejected the Special court for theClergy, which he claims "relies on terror and unlimited powers"granted it by the Islamic Republic authorities.

A statement from the Supporters of the Iranian Muslim Nation, anexile group close to the dissident clergy inside Iran, said thatRastaghari had been kept in an unheated room with iron walls duringthe winter and had also been held in an unlit underground cell with ahole in the ceiling, through which hot, thick smoke billowed. He hadalso been prevented from sleeping for long periods. [Statementfrom the Supporters of the Iranian Muslim Nation, 8/26; FDI ActionMemorandum 8/12;

INP activist jailed

An activist belonging to the outlawed Iran Nation's Party has beenarrested in the city of Kermanshah in northwestern Iran, a statementissued by the INP in Tehran said.

The activist, Sepehr Sanjabi, is the nephew of the well-knownIranian nationalist figure Dr. Karim Sanjabi, who played aninstrumental role in the 1979 revolution against the Shah.

According to the INP, Sepehr Sanjabi had earlier been harassed andbeaten by agents of Iran's Intelligence Ministry while participatingin the annual memorial service held in honor of his uncle on July 4.The INP said he was arrested on Sunday evening, Aug. 25 at his homein Kermanshah, bordering Kurdistan province.

In addition to heading the INP's youth organization in Kermanshah,Sepehr Sanjabi was also a prominent leader of the Sanjabi tribe, aKurdish tribe in Kermanshah province.

The INP's youth organization serves as a recruitment vehicle forthe party in its efforts to build networks of supporters andsympathizers across Iran. The INP is led by Darioush Forouhar, whobriefly served as Labor Minister in the Barzargan government in 1979.[The Iran Brief, 9/2; INP statement 8/26]

Sanjabi went on a hunger strike on Saturday, Aug. 31, vowing thathe would not stop until he was released or he died. The INP youthorganization announced on Sept. 1 that it would stage a peacefuldemonstration on Azadi avenue in downtown Kermanshah on Wednesday,Sept. 4 in support of Sanjabi, and that "it was up to the regime todecide whether the demonstration remained peaceful or not." [INPstatement, 9/1].

200 spies and saboteurs behind bars

The Ministry of Information and Security has captured more than200 "spies and saboteurs," officials said, who were spying againstthe Islamic Republic on behalf of the U.S., Iraq, Israel, andunidentified "other" countries.

MOIS boss Hojjatol-eslam Ali Fallahian told IRNA that over thepast twelve months his organization has arrested 137 spies andsaboteurs, capturing "huge amounts of weapons and ammunition,"including ten bombs.

In a separate statement, the local MOIS boss for East Azerbaijanprovince announced that another 42 people had been arrested oncharges of spreading Pan-Turkish and separatist propaganda. (In anapparent sop to the new Islamist government of Necmeddin Erkaban,Turkey was not named as one of the countries running spy rings inIran).

Fallahian also claimed that 69 foreign currency smuggling rings,and 100 arms smuggling networks had been dismantled, with theauthorities seizing $6 million in cash and large quantities ofarms.

Akbar daily reported on Aug. 25 that "severalcounter-revolutionaries who intended to bomb banks and other publicplaces" were arrested in northern Mazandaran province. The paperquoted an unidentified intelligence official in the province assaying the group called itself "Kaveh," and had been distributingleaflets denouncing the Islamic regime. The "saboteurs" were arrestedsome time in July, the paper said, in possession of explosives "whichthey were intending to place in banks and other economic centers." The same official noted that a separate spy ring had been arrested inthe province, but gave no further details.

The name "Kaveh" suggests that those arrested did not belong tothe Mujahidin-e Khalq, but were instead a nationalist group.[IRNA 8/29; Akbar 8/25]

Drug smugglers executed

Two men accused of being tied to the "main drug dealer of Shiraz"were publicly executed in Shiraz recently, Kayhan reported. The twomen, Ghahreman Bahmani and Ali Jamshidi, had been arrested in June inpossession of large quantities of drugs, said the Rev. Guardscommander for Fars province, Bahram Nowrouzi.

Nowrouzi said that Bahmani and Jamshidi were tied to Hamid Naroui,whom he presented as the "main drug dealer of Shiraz. Naroui waskilled in a clash with security forces earlier this year, he said.[Kayhan 8/24]

Iran to get Russian satellite

The Islamic Republic not only gets submarines and nuclear powerplants from Russia; now the two countries have signed a major newtechnology transfer agreement, that will give Iran access tosignificant military and aerospace technology, including an"educational" satellite, Iran's ambassador to Moscow told the Tehrandaily, Iran.

Ambassador Mehdi Safari told the paper that under this latestdeal, Iran's first "educational" satellite would be launched intospace within the next three years.

Russia will train Iranian aerospace technicians in Russia, and ata later stage send Russian space scientists to train Iranians atIsfahan's Sheikh Bahai University. [Iran daily 8/27]

"No right to say we are not free"

Stepped up pressure on the Iranian media has taken its toll, evenamong the official press.

In its column devoted to reader's comments, Salam daily made anastonishing avowal recently. When a reader complained he was"unsatisfied" because the paper has watered down its politicalcommentary, and has ceased publishing the harsh criticism of theregime that used to appear in its popular column, "Hello Salam," thepaper replied: "We are not satisfied either. But we do not have theright to say we are not free."

"Hello Salam" used to print uncensored comments readers had lefton the newspapers telephone answering machine, some of which werehighly critical of the regime. [Salam 7/20]

FDI's Weekly Newswire

FDI WEEKLY NEWSWIRE NO 18

Sept. 02, 1996

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