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* Denmark to open dialogue with democratic opposition
* German prosecutor demands life sentences
* Further on the Bonn-Tehran tensions
* Amnesty International picks up FDI plea
* New crackdown on satellite dishes
* Six more executed
* Russia reportedly delivers Busheir reactors
* Nateq-Nouri is the only serious candidate
* Ansar-e Hezbollah demonstrate against liberals
* Fingers chopped again
* Mad dogs in Mazandaran...
Denmark to open dialogue with democratic opposition
The Danish parliament has passed a resolution "calling on the government to open a dialogue with groups working for democracy and human rights in Iran."
The resolution, voted on Nov. 14, marks the third time since August that Copenhagen has broken ranks with the European Union over how to deal with the clerical regime in Teheran.
On Aug. 15, the Danes announced they were suspending their "bilateral" dialogue with Teheran because of Iran's abysmal human rights record. And on Oct. 28, they threatened to veto a European Commission plan to retaliate against U.S. trade sanctions on Iran, because the proposed measures would have compromised Danish sovereignty
Gert Petersen, the foreign affairs spokesman of the Socialist People's Party, was one of the driving forces behind the parliamentary move. "We have asked the government to insist that Iran's leaders respect international law, human rights, and democratic standards," he told FDI in a telephone interview. "We want to stress that for us, human rights have a higher priority than economic interest."
Denmark's largest independent newspaper, Information, ran a front page editorial on the effort to dialogue with democratic opposition groups," but noted that "until now neither the parliament or the government have been able to pinpoint who they are."
"Part of the confusion stems from the fact that the parliament has not decided whether dialogue should be opened with groups who are 100% democratic, or whether less will do," Information said. "Some parties think it advisable to open a dialogue with any group that is opposed to the Islamic Republic," including the Mujahidin-e Khalq, which in Denmark represents itself behind the front of the National Council of Resistance.
"If you talk to Kenneth R Timmerman, the director of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran, in ten minutes you will get a list of Iranian opposition organizations who do stand for Western standards of democracy and human rights: the Constitutionalists Movement of Iran (CMI), the Flag of Freedom Organization, the National Movement for the Iranian Resistance (NAMIR), the Iran People's Party (Jebh-e Melli Iran), the Iran Nation's Party, the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), the Fedayeen Majority, and the Democracy Network of Iran (DNI)," Information went on.
"Some members of parliament say it could be acceptable to talk to organizations which are not 100% democratic, in order to open a dialogue with enemies of the Iranian government. Churchill could talk to Stalin in order to stop Hitler. In such a dialogue, Denmark should criticize the behavior of organizations which are not 100% democratic. [...]
"The mullahs in Tehran have been accorded international legitimacy through Europe and Denmark's' active trade, a policy which allows the Iranians to trample on European protests over democracy and human rights.
"If Denmark's defense of human rights and democracy in Iran is to win any respect, Danish policy toward Iran must change in consequence. Until now, these ingredients have been missing. ["Danish Double Standard," "Information" daily, Copenhagen, Denmark, 11/20/96, p1]
German prosecutor demands life sentences
The German state prosecutor, Bruno Jost, has asked to court to hand down life sentences against alleged Iranian intelligence agents Kazem Darabi and Abbas Rhayel, for their rolls in the 1992 assassination of KDPI leader Sadegh Sharafkindi and three other dissident Kurds in the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin. Darabi is an Iranian national, while Rhayel is Lebanese. Jost also demanded 11 years for Lebanese Youssef Amin, another member of the hit team. "The brazen attempts by the Tehran government to influence the proceedings point to this having happened on Iran's orders," he told the court.
Jost also commented that the trial had succeeded in "opening the door a bit to the headquarters of Iranian state terrorism and casting a look at the killing machine." [Reuters 11/15]
A verdict in the Mykonos case is expected sometime in January 1997.
Further on the Bonn-Tehran tensions
The Islamic Republic has gone berserk over the accusation by the German State prosecutor that Tehran's top leaders, Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i and President Hashemi-Rafsanjani, personally ordered the Mykonos murders, and have had a hand in ordering the assassination of other dissidents living in exile as well.
Three demonstrations have been held outside the German embassy in Tehran over the past week. And on Sunday, Nov. 24, Foreign Minister Velayati delivered a closed-door speech on the crisis to the Majlis. Although the fact of the speech was announced in the Tehran press, no details were released [Tehran Radio 11/25]
President Hashemi-Rafsanjani has been trying to calm the waters, undoubtedly recognizing that antagonizing Germany - the Islamic Republic's best friend in Europe - could have disastrous consequences for the Tehran regime in its quest for legitimacy and high technology in Europe.
Rafsanjani reassured an audience during Friday prayers in Tehran that the German government was "not seeking to make trouble" between Iran and Germany by the Mykonos case. A German court "cannot destroy the historic relations between Iran and Germany," he said. "The main enemy of the Islamic Republic is Israel and the United States," and these were the "real culprits" behind the Mykonos case.... [Radio Tehran, 11/22]
Chancellor Kohl reportedly sent Rafsanjani a 2-page letter, stating his "unhappiness" with the recent chill and explaining that the courts in Germany "are independent." He also warned that if the attacks against Germany continue, it could "harm the friendly relations" between the two countries, Radio Israel reported [11/22].
Tehran television broadcast a different version of the Kohl letter, claiming that Kohl had demanded an apology from Tehran for the threats against the German embassy in Tehran. [IRIB 11/22]
In Bonn, the Islamic Republic ambassador Hossein Mossavian said that if the court convicted the Mykonos defendants, "the relations between our two countries will darken... the continuation in relations will be impossible." [Radio Israel, 11/22]
Commenting on the "siege of sorts" of the German embassy in Tehran, the Wall Street Journal Europe ran an editorial calling for a revision of Europe's "critical dialogue" with Tehran. Given the violent reaction in Tehran to the Mykonos trial, "we wonder how long it will take before the German government will admit that its euphemistically named policy of "critical dialogue" with the totalitarian theocracy is not yielding the hoped-for results." [11/22]
Despite all the tensions, German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel said on Monday that Germany and the European Union would continue "critical dialogue" with Tehran. [dpa, 11/25/96]
Amnesty International picks up FDI plea
Amnesty International has picked up a plea, first launched by FDI, on behalf of Iranian journalist Faraj Sarkhoui, who disappeared on Nov. 3 at Tehran's Mehrebad airport while attempting to board a flight for Frankfurt, Germany. (See Action Memoranda 27 and 28)
Amnesty noted that "if Faraj Sarkhoui is indeed in detention, Amnesty International believes that he is very likely a prisoner of conscience... [and] should be immediately and unconditionally released."
Sarkhoui was one of eight writers arrested on Sept. 8, 1996 while attending a meeting to discuss a new charter for the Iranian Writers Association. [Amnesty International Urgent Action, 11/20/ 96]
New crackdown on satellite dishes
Now that the Voice of America has started weekly television broadcasts in Farsi, the LEF have launched a new crackdown against satellite dishes, which were banned in April 1995 by order of the Majlis in an effort to prevent Iranians from viewing foreign television broadcasts.
According to Reuters, police have brandished search warrants to enter private homes and seize satellite dishes in some Tehran districts in recent days. In some parts of town, LEF agents went door to door asking people if they had outlawed satellite receiving equipment.
One popular VOA show presented Mahasti, a popular Iranian singer living in the United States, who took questions from viewers calling from Iran. She and other exiled singers are portrayed as "decadent" by the regime.
VOA has also presented legal advice on how to emigrate to the United States. [Reuters, 11/25]
Six more executed
Six men were hanged on murder charges last Thursday, Iran daily reported, including two brothers.
The men were hanged in Tehran's Qasr Prison, in the presence of a judge.
The two brothers were said to have committed their crime in concert, whereas the other four committed separate crimes last year in the Tehran area. [Iran daily 11/24]
Russia reportedly delivers Busheir reactors
Foreign Minister announced on Nov. 23 in Tehran that Russia has "already delivered" nuclear reactors for the Bushehr power station, despite consistent reports that the Russian project has encountered technical delays.
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati told a Tehran press conference: "There are no problems with Russia regarding the Bushehr nuclear power plant and the project will be completed on time. Everything is going according to schedule."
The first unit of the Bushehr was supposed to be completed by the year 2000, however Russia has reportedly been hampered in its deliveries by the failure of the German firm Siemens, which began construction on the project in 1974, to hand over blueprints to its reactors and the different specifications of the Russian replacements. The Russian reactors are similar to used in Chernobyl, that created the world's largest nuclear disaster in 1986. [Xinhua 11/23]
Nateq-Nouri is the only serious candidate
The spokesman for the Jameh-e Rouhaniyat-e Mobarez (known in English various as the Militant Clerics Society, or the Combatant Clergymen's Society) now says that the influential group has officially chosen Majlis speaker Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri as its candidate for next year's presidential elections.
"Nateq-Nouri is a well-known revolutionary cleric," said Hojjat-ol eslam Reza Taghavi, "and people have tested him in different situations."
Of the 17 Central Council members, 14 were present at the meeting which unanimously nominated Nateq-Nouri. [Resalat 11/6]
In the meantime, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mussavi - the apparent darling of the radicals - has rejected a call from the rival Majma-e Rouhaniyat-e Mobarez (Militant Clergy Association) that he become a candidate. His refusal was "dictated by reason," he said, without providing any details. [Salam 10/28]
Kayhan International, which is close to the Ministry of Information and Security, commented that the reason for Mussavi's refusal to become a candidate was "not known, but it is believed that the lack of support from the Majlis was crucial in influencing his decision."
"With Mussavi out of the race, observers are getting a clearer picture of who the main candidates will be... The chances of Nateq-Nouri, who was officially declared the candidate by the right-wing Jameh-e Rouhaniat-e Mobarez, seem to be getting better, particularly after he received the backing of the influential Qom seminary," the paper said. [Kayhan International 11/6]
Ansar-e Hezbollah demonstrate against liberals
Ansar-e Hezbollah is at it again... As other factions have been engaged in anti-German demonstrations, the radical group tied to Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati (and others who are close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamene'i) held a demonstration front of the Majlis building in Tehran on Tuesday morning, demanding the unseating of "liberal" members of Parliament such as Abdallah Nouri. A former Interior minister in the first Rafsanjani cabinet, Nouri was ousted in a cabinet reshuffle and has become a figurehead of sorts for the pro-Rafsanjani faction that appears to favor an easing of social restrictions and a return to a more rational foreign policy. [IRNA 11/26]
Fingers chopped again
Finger-chopping is once again "à-la-mode" in Tehran, only one week after the Islamic Republic officially rejected the latest report from the United Nations Human Rights Commission on human rights abuses in Iran.
According to Kayhan, the High Council of Justice handed down a verdict condemning a man identified only as Mahmoud Kh., to get four fingers of his right hand chopped off in Tehran. He was originally sentenced in Najaf-Abad, in Isfahan province, but was amputated in the Tehran police headquarters "in the presence of a legal medical coroner." After his punishment, the man was transferred to hospital, Kayhan added. [11/6]
Incidents of finger-chopping have been on the increase in recent weeks. The last case was carried out in the town of Babol, as we reported in our Oct. 28 newswire.
Mad dogs in Mazandaran...
An astonishing rise in the number of vagrant dogs in the northern province of Mazandaran has created a dangerous health problem, officials say.
According to statistics compiled by local health departments in the province, 6,400 human rabies cases were treated in different hospitals and health centers in the province during the last Iranian year. Most of those treated had been bitten by rapid dogs.
Health authorities complain they have insufficient resources to round up wandering dogs from the cities and villages of the province. [Resalat 11/6]