The life and [troubled] times of the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Islamic Republic authorities are now blaming the United States in addition to Pakistan's government for the attack last Thursday against an Iranian cultural center in Pakistan's Punjab province, during which Iran's cultural attaché, Mohammad Ali Rahimi, and seven others were killed. Iran's chief judge, (Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi,) said during a Friday prayer service in Tehran, "If the Pakistani judiciary officials had shown more decisiveness during the previous attacks, such an incident would not have happened again... Just condemning the attack is not enough, those responsible for this crime should be traced, arrested and punished.'' Also speaking on Friday was Majlis speaker Ali Akbar Nateq Nuri, who accused the United States on Friday of being behind the attack and of "sowing discord" between the main two Muslim sects. [IRNA, DPA, 2/21]
Reuters reported from the Punjab city of Multan that Pakistani police announced on Friday that they arrested two Sunni Muslim militants suspected of having carried out the assault. They were thought to be members of the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi group, linked to the militant Sunni Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) organization. Police also seized 13 rocket launchers, three assault rifles, five hand grenades and other weapons and ammunition. Newly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif flew to Tehran on Friday to accompany Rahimi's body. [Reuters 2/21]
Local authorities called out troops earlier after Shiite protesters began chanting anti-American slogans and burning tires on main roads in the city in Punjab province. SSP supporters burned the Iranian cultural center in Lahore Jan. 19, a day after a bomb blast there killed their leader Zia-ur-Rahman Faruqi and 25 other people.
In the latest developments on Wednesday, Feb. 26, which were broadcast by Tehran Radio, angry Pakistani Shiites in Punjab held an anti-American demonstration, and demanded that the government immediately close the U.S. cultural center in Multan and expel all U.S. residents in Pakistan. "If the government does not take these steps," Tehran radio quoted the demonstrators as saying, "then the Muslims have the right to do it themselves." [Tehran Radio, 2/26]
In the past, Tehran radio has trod softly when it came to Sunni-Shiite tensions in Pakistan.
All bets are off on how the Islamic Republic will handle the annual pilgrimage to Mecca this year. A riot during a political rally on the streets of Mecca led to the slaughter of 400 Iranian pilgrims in 1987 by the Saudi security forces, and the Saudis have made it clear they do not wish to see a repeat of the anti-U.S. and anti-Israel demonstrations.
In a lead editorial on Tuesday, an English-language daily in Tehran, Iran News, pleaded for calm. "Rationalism demands that officials in both countries sit down together and sort out all relevant issues related to the hajj affairs every year on the eve of the major religious duty," the paper said. "Pre-hajj exchange of views by the two countries is a must to exterminate [sic] tension between the two major Islamic nations of the world.'' [Iran News, 2/25]
Just the day before, however, the Islamic Republic authorities vowed that their pilgrims would defy a Saudi ban and hold a major political rally this April during the hajj. "The 'disavowal of infidels' is the high point of the social goals of hajj ... We should try with all our power to perform the true hajj as revealed to us by the late Imam," hajj supervisor Mohammad Mohammadi Reyshari was quoted as saying by Tehran radio [2/24]. 'Disavowal of infidels' is the term used by the regime to designate its yearly anti-American and anti-Israeli hajj demonstration.
In a crude attempt to deflect international attention from accusations of religious persecution by the Islamic Republic authorities, the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Courts, Gholam Hoseyn Rahbarpour, as saying that two members of the Baha'i sect, condemned last year to death for apostasy, had in reality been convicted of spying for Israel. "No one in Iran will be prosecuted or punished for having a specific ideology or view,'' Rahbarpour said. [IRNA 2/23]
The State Department had protested the decision by Iran's supreme court last month to uphold the death sentence against the two men, which was delivered on the grounds the two were "apostates" from Islam, the usual accusation used against members of the Baha'i faith. Rahbarpour called the U.S. condemnation "utterly fabricated and spiteful."
The two condemned men, Musa Talebi and Zabihollah Mahrami, "were involved in espionage activities in the interests of Zionist aggressors," Rahbarpour claimed, without presenting any evidence. "They were arrested while spying and were sentenced to death.'' He also claimed that Talebi was later pardoned, but gave no further details. It was not clear whether either Talebi or Mahrami have been executed.
Baha'is in the United States say more than 200 members of their faith have been executed in Iran for their religious beliefs since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. In a 1983 "blueprint" condemning the Baha'is, Islamic Republic leaders accused the religion itself as being an espionage tool of Israel and the United States.
Iran's top two diplomats in Turkey, Ambassador Mohammed Reza Bagheri and Mohammed Reza Rashid, who was consul-general in Istanbul, left Wednesday for Tehran, after being criticized for their open interference in Turkey's internal affairs, the Turkish Foreign Ministry confirmed on Friday. The two had provoked an outcry by calling for Turkey to drop its secular legal system in favor of sharia law, at political rallies inside Turkey.
A Foreign ministry source told United Press International that the IRI diplomats were "not expected back," and said that Turkey had done "the appropriate thing." Bagheri had been ambassador for more than seven years, so there had been speculation he was scheduled to be rotated - giving the IRI embassy in Ankara a face-saving way of diffusing the crisis. [UPI 2/21]
Another Iranian writer, Kalimollah Tavohodi Oghazi, has apparently disappeared in the eastern Iranian city of Mashad, an exile weekly published in London said. Kalimollah Tavahodi Oghazi, author of many books, was last seen two months ago, when he was ordered to report to the office of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in Mashad, to apply for authorization to publish his latest book, "The History of the Immigration of Kurds in Khorassan Province." [Nimrooz, 2/21]
Mr. Oghazi has written extensively about the small Kurdish minority in Khorassan province which was forced to leave Kurdistan for eastern Iran some 350 years ago, during the Safavid dynasty. Kurdish sources confirmed his disappearance.
Iranian exiles have been circulating a petition on the Internet, calling on the Tehran authorities to release jailed writer Faraj Sarkuhi.
Those interested can sign onto the petition by sending an e-mail message to the Committee to Support Iranian Writers, at writers134@juno.com.
The Foundation for Democracy of Iran has endorsed the letter and urges Americans and Iranians to join hands in calling for Mr. Sarkuhi's freedom.
Another supporter of dissident Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Shirazi has died in Iran, as a result of repeated torture and ill-treatment during prison terms.
Haaji Masood, aged 45, was married to the niece of Grand Ayatollah Shirazi, and died on Feb. 18 after failed kidney surgery. He had been abducted on the streets of Tehran and jailed in the "Tawheed" prison, which is feared by Islamic opponents of the regime because of its reputation as a house of torture.
After Haaji Masood was released from the Tawheed, he underwent surgery several times for kidney failure, ulcers, internal bleeding and other ailments directly caused by torture while in jail. He complained to family members that while in prison he had been lashed on the back and on the sole of the feet with thick cables, deprived for water for long periods, and kept in a damp underground cell without a bed or blanket for long periods.
Many followers of Grand Ayatollah Shirazi are believed to be jailed in the Tawheed, including Hojj. val Muslimin Sheikh Taqi Dhaakeri, who was arrested on Nov. 11, 1995. On Jan. 14 and Jan. 15 this year, several other Shirazi supporters were arrested, including Hojj. val Muslimin Seyed Hussein Faali, Hojj. Sheikh Amin Ghafoori, Taha al-Baldaawi, and Imaad Saaberi. [Supporters of the Iranian Muslim Nation, 2/21]
A Berlin Court judging the 1992 gangland murder of Kurdish dissident leaders at the Mykonos restaurant, has been told that the operation was "dictated" by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Lawyers for the Lebanese defendants told the Court that their clients, whom they described as "profoundly Shi'a believers," carried out the assassination of Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran leaders on the "explicit order" of Ayatollah Khomeini, who had declared a "jihad," or holy war against Iranian Kurds.
This was the first time that Ayatollah Khomeini has been cited as the force behind the killings. During earlier testimony, the Court was told by "Witness C," a former senior intelligence operative of the IRI who identified himself in court as Abolghasem Mesbahi, that current regime's "highest authorities," including Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i, President Hashemi-Rafsanjani, and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Information (Intelligence), had ordered the terrorist operation against the Iranian dissident leaders who were meeting in Berlin. [IPS 2/20]
Herbert Hedrich, the German lawyer for Abbas Rayel, a Lebanese Shi'a who finished off the Kurds as they lay dying on the restaurant floor, confirmed that his client had been trained in Iran for terrorist operations, before being dispatched to Germany to carry the "sacred mission" ordered by Ayatollah Khomeini. Hedrich told the court that his client acted out of religious fervor, and that his deeply-held Shiite Muslim beliefs meant "he could not have ignored" the orders of current Iranian spiritual leader Ali Khamene'i to kill the dissident Kurds. [AFP 2/20]
Kazem Darabi, an IRI embassy official believed to be a senior member of the Information Ministry, finally admitted to the court last week that he had provided all the "necessary logistics" to the mixed Iranian-Lebanese hit commando, "without knowing the purpose of the mission." The German prosecutor has accused Darabi with coordinating the killings. [IPS, 2/20]
In an earlier hearing, on Feb. 7, "Witness C" said that Tehran's ambassador to Germany, Hussein Mousavian, was also linked to the crime, and played a major role in Tehran's terrorist operations against Iranian exiles throughout Europe.
The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Feb. 20 condemning the Islamic Republic for "repeated violations of human rights in Iran," and expressed concern about "the high number of executions" by the authorities.
Members of the European Parliament also condemned "the continuing discrimination against women in Iran", "the recent widespread arrests" during demonstrations in Kermanshah and elsewhere, the "torture of prisoners of conscience", "the outlawing of oil workers' organizations", the fatwa against the British author Salman Rushdie, and "the arrest of Iranian writer Faraj Sarkuhi".
The European Parliament also expressed deep concern about "the threats made against the judicial officials of [Germany] which has accused the leaders of the Iranian regime of direct involvement in the assassinations of Iranian opponents in exile." [Iran Zamin News Agency, 2/20]
In an interview with Salam newspaper, Hojj. Mehdi Karrubi, a leader of the hard-line Majma-e Rouhanioun, has confirmed that his organization will be supporting former Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Khatami in the May Presidential elections. But he added that Nateq-Nouri appears headed for victory. [Salam 2/19]
The Greek government has handed over two Iranian refugees to the Islamic Republic authorities, during an official visit to Athens by IRI Vice President Hasan Habibi. Greek dailies confirmed on Feb. 20 that the refugees had been sent back to Tehran on a direct flight from Athens the day before.
During his trip to Greece, Habibi stated his hope that Iran and Greece could further strengthen relations, and declared his eagerness to serve as a mediator between the Turkish and Greek governments over the looming Cyprus crisis. [Radio Israel 2/20]
Meanwhile, sources in Washington quoted Turkish officials as saying that a senior Greek official had recently traveled to the Bekaa valley, where he had met with PKK leaders.
Iranian newspapers published a statement by the head of the Ministry of Information and Security office in Kerend city (Kermanshah province) on Monday, Feb. 17, that fifty people had been arrested recently in connection with "espionage activities during the war with Iraq." [IRNA, Salam, 2/17]
It would appear the arrests were connected to the recent anti-government violence in Kermanshah.
The Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran has alleged that agents from the Tehran regime have staged a wave of attacks against Kurdish refugees living inside Iraq in recent weeks. Among the operations alleged by the KDPI:
- a Jan. 12 attack against a delivery van traveling to an Iranian Kurdish refugee camp near the town of Suleymaniah in which two persons were injured by gunfire.
- the Jan. 19 murder of Abdullah Pirotzadeh, an Iranian Kurd from the town of Ushnavied, who was shot dead by "terrorists in the pay of the Iranian regime."
- the Jan. 22 rocket attack against a house used by a KDPI activist in the Ghala Sayda refugee camp near the town of Ranya.
- a Jan. 23 rocket attack against the same camp in which three persons were seriously injured.
- the Jan. 23 kidnapping of a sympathizer of the Khabat organization and a sympathizer of the People's Fedayeen of Iran, who were handed over to the Iranian authorities.
- a grenade attack on Jan. 29 in the town of Ranya.
- a Feb. 1 mortar attack against a Kurdish refugee camp in Koy-Sanjak.
- the disappearance and subsequent murder of two KDPI activists, Abbas Badri and Ataollah Feizi, en route to Suleimaniya to seek medical attention. The two disappeared on Feb. 3; their mutilated bodies were discovered outside of Suleimaniya on Feb. 12.
- a bomb attack on Feb. 7 near the house of a party activist in the Bayajan refugee camp near Suleimaniya, which damaged several houses. [KDPI statement, 2/17]
Seven teachers were arrested during a demonstration in southern Tehran on Feb. 16 in the Shahre Rey area, close to where oil industry workers were staging a protest sit-in. The teachers were seeking a meeting with Mr. Ghayouri, a representative of Ayatollah Khamene'i, to protest a lack of contractual benefits, when they were attacked by MOIS agents and Law Enforcement Force elements. [INP weekly bulletin 2/23]
Ayatollah Hussein Ali Montazeri, who had been in line to succeed Ayatollah Khomeini as Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic but was deposed shortly before Khomeini's death, is said to be considering public action against the regime, including a call for "unlimited fasting," an opposition news service in Paris reported.
"Grand Ayatollah Montazeri has said he thinks the only way to stop this despotic regime is to cut its revenues," according to a communiqué attributed to his office in Qom, where he has been under house arrest. "Grand Ayatollah Montazeri added that if the economic boycott against the regime is reinforced and the sale of oil is stopped, the regime, not being able to pay its employees, those in the oil services, in the Army, the Pasdaran and the security services, will soon collapse," the opposition news service quoted the communiqué as saying.
"The attitude you have adopted (in governing the country) will lead to the destruction of both Iran and Islam," Montazeri reportedly told Supreme Leader Khamene'i. "You should stop crushing under your feet people's aspirations to a better life and more freedom. You must also allow dissident clergy to participate in the elections and help you salvage Iran and Islam."
According to the communiqué, Montazeri urged Khameneh'i to "make room for greater freedom for the people in choosing their own candidate as well as assuring free elections." [IPS 1/23]
A coalition of Iranian opposition groups in Europe, known as the Iranian National Conference, has written an open letter to President Clinton, calling on him to "convince the G-7 countries to unite and lead the international community to combat the terrorist regime in Tehran."
The letter assails the European Union for its decision to continue "critical dialogue" with Tehran, only days before the Chief Prosecutor in Berlin brought charges against the leaders of the Tehran regime in the Mykonos terrorism trial. "Is it possible that the EU has buried its head under the bottom line blanket? That 60 million Iranians are the sacrificial lambs as long as the European Governments can exchange their goods for the Iranian petro dollars?"
The letter accuses the Islamic Republic for the house arrest of Grand Ayatollahs inside Iran; or kidnapping and killing journalists and intellectuals; of having assassinated numerous opposition leaders in exile, and of supporting international terrorist groups.
"Mr. President, the Islamic regime of Iran does not represent the Iranian masses," the letter says. "Their only popular support is the people in charge and on its payroll. Over ninety percent of Iranians are virtual hostages for lack of opportunity, unemployment, economic misery, social restrictions and political persecution. We support your stance against the terrorist regime in Tehran and we strongly urge your Government to convince the G-7 nations to unite and leader the international community in this effort. We believe democratic principals and justice should not be compromised or sacrificed for economic gains or commercial agreements. The Iranian National Conference, an all inclusive democratic front seek your support in its struggle to free Iran from its bondage."
The letter was signed by Hassan Massali, Ahmad Rafat, Parviz Zarghami, Amir Hossein, and Ladan [name suppressed] [INC letter, IPS 2/19]