Another dissident writer has been murdered in Iran, according to family members who were quoted recently by the Paris-based Iran Press Service.
The body of Ebrahim Zal Zadeh, a 45-year old intellectual, was found on March 29 half buried in a field outside of Tehran, according to family members quoted by IPS.
Zal Zadeh was best known for publishing the works of one of Iran's best known national poets, Ahmad Shamou. He was arrested one month ago by plain clothes agents of the Intelligence Ministry as he was going to buy flowers, and was taken to an MOIS safe house, family members and friends said.
"The family was told by the Information Ministry not to say anything about the arrest of Mr. Zal Zadeh or he would be killed," said Abbas Samark, an Iranian film maker living in Hannover, Germany.
Zal Zadeh's body was found outside his car, which contained dried flowers and his press credentials stuffed behind the back seat. Zal Zadeh owned the Ebtekar (Initiative) Publishing House and edited a monthly literary journal, Me'yar. His assassination was condemned by the Iranian Writers Association in Exile. [IPS 3/31]
Norway has became the first European country to call for economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Norway's position would go far beyond the D'Amato legislation which is aimed at denying Iran access to foreign capital to develop its petroleum resources, to encompass some form of multilateral trade embargo. State Secretary Jan Egeland said last week at the annual meeting of the United Nations Subcommission on Human Rights in Geneva that "the time has now come for joint, coordinated, international action" aimed at forcing Tehran to stop promoting terrorism.
Mr. Egeland mocked the European Union's "critical dialogue" with Tehran. "Neither existing international mechanisms nor any bilateral dialogue have been able to correct the intolerable situation caused by Iran and the fatwa" against Salman Rushdie, he said.
In Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mahmoud Mohammadi replied that Norway's "uncalled for position is unrealistic and beyond Norway's political credit." [Iran Times, March 28]
The Berlin-based League of Iranian Democrats has called on all "freedom-loving Iranians" from every ideological background to gather en mass in Berlin on April 10, the day the Mykonos Tribunal is set to pronounce its final verdict on the assassination of four Iranian dissident Kurds.
In its call, the LID says the time has come for all Iranians to "raise their voice against the Islamic Republic's policy of terrorism outside and suppression inside on the one hand and Germany's policy of flirting with the Iranian ruling criminals on the other."
The verdicts against Kazem Darabi, an Iranian national and four Lebanese accomplices could set off a firestorm if the judges implicate the Islamic Republic's clerical rulers, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Khamene'i. It would then be up to the Federal Prosecutor's Office to issue warrants for their arrest, as they did with Iranian Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian last year.
Whatever the verdict, the case will put Germany and indeed, the European Union, in the hot seat. In Tehran last week, the regime resumed its scarcely veiled warnings to Germany. "If the final verdict of the so-called Mykonos trial were politically oriented or illogical, then it would definitely have a negative impact on bilateral ties and even lead to a crisis," said Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri, the Majlis Speaker and the front-runner in the presidential election. [Iran Press, March 28]
"If there is any Iranian retaliation for the verdict," EU officials said in separate interviews last week, "we will respond collectively and at the EU level. In the worst case," which the officials said would be a violent attack against the German embassy in Tehran or renewed terrorist attacks on European soil, "we would seriously consider a break in diplomatic ties with Tehran." [The Iran Brief, 4/2/97]
Long-Island's Newsday, quoting U.S. counter-terrorism specialists, claims that "the alleged mastermind behind the bombing that killed 19 U.S. airmen in Saudi Arabia last year fled to Iran shortly after the attack and lives there under the protection of its theocratic government."
Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed Mughassil, the alleged terrorist, fled to Syria after the bombing and was then whisked away to Iran, according to a U.S. counter-terrorism specialist familiar with details of the Saudi and FBI investigations into the bombing. Mughassil "lives under the protection of, as a guest of, the Iranian government," the source said. [Newsday, 3/29].
A deportation hearing has been set for April 28 for a Saudi Shiite arrested in Canada in connection with the Khobar Tower bombing. U.S. officials believe that Hani Abdel Rahim al-Sayegh was on the payroll of the Iranian intelligence service. While under surveillance by Canadian authorities for several months, he was observed making several contacts with the Iranian embassy in Ottawa and calling contacts in Iran, with whom he spoke in Farsi. Canadian intelligence officials had obtained authorization to wiretap his phone conversations after receiving heads-up from the Saudi government about Sayegh's possible involvement in the bombing as the suspected driver of the getaway car. [NYT, 3/28]
Both Mughassil and Sayegh are believed to have been recruited by Iranian intelligence in the holy city of Qom while engaged in religious studies. They then received military training from the Iranian-supported Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon's Bekaa valley, an area controlled by the Syrian army.
Jomhouri-e Eslami daily, the official mouthpiece of the clerical regime in Tehran, has called the Jordanian soldier who opened fire on Israeli school girls last month "pious," in a commentary entitled "Flames of Wrath Against Zionism Were Demonstrated by Jordanian Soldier Ahmad Mustafa." The commentary makes no mention of the soldier's apparent mental disorder or of the fact that his colleagues rushed to restrain him after he opened fire on the schoolgirls.
According to Jomhouri-e Eslami, those responsible for the killings are Jordanian leaders who "began efforts to establish political relations with the Zionists. It has been almost two years since the Jordanian Government is working toward the consolidation and expansion of these relations in the various fields. But the outcome of all these efforts can be clearly seen today in the bullets fired by a pious soldier who selflessly killed the savage Zionists."
The commentary warns King Hussein of Jordan of the same fate as Sadat's. "The hand that was able to kill the criminal Sadat in the land of the pharaohs because he visited occupied Palestine and committed treason against the Egyptian nation, exists today in Jordan," the paper, which represents the views of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene'i and Majlis speaker Nateq-Nouri, warned. [Jomhouri-e Eslami, 3/16]]
Three supporters of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Shirazi, who were arrested on January 14-15, 1997, have been subjected to "severe bouts of torture," a support group based in London alleges.
Quoting reports from inside the prison where they are being held, the group said the three - Hojj. Seyed Hussain Faali, Hojj. Amin Ghafoori, and Imaad Saaberi - were "in critical condition" and were "unable to walk and to sit properly."
Faali and Ghafoori have been arrested on several previous occasions. Both were subjected to torture and underwent major operations after their release. (Faali required surgery on his spinal column in August 1996 as a result of previous torture, the group said).
Despite their dangerous condition, the three have been denied medical attention. [Supporters of the Iranian Muslim Nation, 3/25]
The Islamic Republic of Iran has allocated 75 billion rials in the current year's budget, to combat what it called "cultural onslaught," one billion more than the previous year. Part of this campaign calls for more entertaining and attractive programming from a state-controlled television network aimed at appealing to younger Iranians [International Ettela'at, March 14]
The budget allocation will also fund the Special Unit for Combating Cultural Onslaught [SUCCO] that has been set up to crack down on improper use of Islamic dress; immoral relationships; the possession or use of satellite equipment; and gangs involved in corruption, gambling, and the production and distribution of pornographic videotapes.
The head of SUCCO, Mohammad Kazemi, discussed its mission and objectives with Tehran's Salam newspaper in broad terms. "We are dealing with large number of people here." Asked by Salam if people who do not wear Islamic dress properly can expect to go to jail, Kazemi noted that "the Islamic Penal Code stipulates imprisonment as a punishment for propagating corruption and prostitution. According to Article 639 of the Islamic Penal Code, any person who propagates corruption can be imprisoned."
SUCCO has 13 branches across the country, he said. [Salam, March 18]
In his interview with CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace, President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani categorically denied that Tehran had played any role in ordering or carrying out assassinations against Iranian dissidents abroad, calling suggestions of Iranian sponsored terrorism "false and lies." Instead, Rafsanjani trotted out the well-worn litany that the Islamic Republic has been the major victim of terrorist attacks, coming from the Iraqi-based Mujahidin-e Khalq organization.
As far as Iranian involvement in state-sponsored terrorism was considered, Rafsanjani said, "not one single case of all these accusations could have been proved so far... With all the publicity and fanfare that the French made about [the Bakhtiar case], they finally acquitted Iran," he asserted. "There were people who were announced as culprits and were condemned and they were officers working for the French government." [CBS 60 Minutes 3/23; IRNA 3/23]
In fact, after a five week trial, the French court convicted two Iranian government agents for their direct role in Dr. Shahpour Bakhtiar's assassination in 1991, acquitting a third man whose passport had been used by MOIS for one of the killers whose real identity was never discovered by the court. [AP 12/6/94]
Six months later, a second trial in France sentenced in absentia six other Iranian government officials to life in prison on charges of plotting, planning, and carrying out the double murder. [The Iran Brief 6/16/95]
On the question of temporary marriages or "sigheh," Rafsanjani strongly supported a practice that has angered Iranian women as a form of legalized prostitution, calling it "a solution toward the sexual problems existing" and as something that everybody "accepts in the Shi'ite school of thought."
Rafsanjani also denied any suggestion that Iran might be interested in developing nuclear weapons, but added that despite abundant oil and gas resources, "nuclear technology is extremely vital for a country like Iran."
Behzad Nabavi, the member of the Mujahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization and a former cabinet member in the 1980's, recently said that he was never in total agreement with the "Imam's Line" while Ayatollah Khomeini was alive but had to go along with it for reasons of political expediency. His remarks apparently offended the Islamic Council of Students of Isfahan University which retorted that they would never allow "the line of Imam to be trampled on in the name of the politicking by some people." [Ettala'at, March 11, Resalat, March 12]
With the presidential campaign now in full swing, presidential candidate, Hojj. Mohammad Reyshari, who is also the secretary general of the Society for the Defense of the Values of the Islamic Revolution [SDVIR], has called for equal access to the media. He deplored the expenditure of "colossal sums and waste of money during the presidential elections," and said that "the government should make sure that all candidates have equal access to television programs."
In the meantime, the Majlis Hezbollah Association [MHA] issued a statement in support of Mohammad Khatami's candidacy. Khatami now enjoys the support of Servants of Construction as well as Militant Clerics Society and the Coalition of the Line of Imam.
Quoting Middle East intelligence sources, the Israeli daily Yedi'ot Aharonot claims that last December Iran supplied Syria with 25 fighter jets that are currently stationed in airports around Damascus, as well as 50 Iranian-built Scud C surface-to-surface missiles.
The daily also reported that the Islamic Republic has agreed to finance Syria's procurement of Russian weapons by supplying Russia with Iranian oil and consumer goods. Russia has refused to sell weapons to Syria for a long time because Syria is still deeply in debt to Russia for Weapons purchased from the former Soviet Union. [3/27]
As a way of deflecting criticism from Iran's dismal human rights record at home, the Islamic Republic Representative to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Ali Reza Ghanavi, launched an attack on Western countries which have been critical of Tehran's total disregard of basic human rights. Ghanavi said that while there was an effective mechanism in Western countries against anti-Jewish sentiments, there were no such protections for the growing Muslim community, and some countries were even trying to revive the old anti-Islamic attitude of the Crusades. [IRNA, 3/26]
In case anyone was wondering what was going to happen to outgoing President Hashemi-Rafsanjani, Ayatollah Khamene'i has now given him a new job, which gives some hint of things to come.
In a decree dated March 17, Khamene'i appointed him to chair a revised and strengthened executive body, that was established by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1988 to give him legal authority to overturn decisions of the Council of Guardians. (The Council of Guardians acts in an analogous way to the U.S. Supreme Court, in that it must approve legislation passed by the Parliament before it can become law).
The body, known as the Council on the Discernment of Expediency, can overturn laws, overrule the Council of Guardians, and in essence, do whatever the Supreme Leader wishes. It was created by Khomeini in 1988 as a means of eviscerating the more religiously conservative Council of Guardians, who opposed him on numerous issues, especially when he sought to enhance the powers of the Leader. At times, the Council has also originated legislation that was sought by the Supreme Leader.
Little has been heard from the Council in recent years, and Khamene'i's decree is clearly aimed at resurrecting it as a major source of political power for his own use. For all the Iran analysts who have written about the "conflicts" between Khamene'i and Rafsanjani over the years (as in, the "conservative" Khamene'i versus the "pragmatic" Rafsanjani, or the "anti-Western" Khamene'i versus the more "open" Rafsanjani), the blinders should now come off: through this decree, Khamene'i has shown that he has no stronger or more reliable ally than Rafsanjani.
Informed sources in Tehran believe that by appointing Rafsanjani to head a reinforced Council of Expediency, Khamene'i is paving the way to naming him as "Deputy Leader," a position that currently does not exist. They also believe that Rafsanjani will use his new powers to resurrect another position - that of Prime Minister - that was dropped in 1989 at his own request, as a means of enhancing the power of the presidency Rafsanjani assumed in 1989. A revived Prime Minister would therefore diminish the powers of Rafsanjani's successor as President.
A strong Council of Expediency would also serve to limit the power of the Majlis, by giving greater authority to the central power organs of the regime itself. [The Iran Brief 4/2]