Iran Says It Has Charged Dissident Writer Sarkuhi With Espionage, Trial Will Begin Soon, Reuter, June 24

DUBAI - The head of Iran's judiciary Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi said on Tuesday the jailed journalist Faraj Sarkuhi had been charged with espionage and would be tried soon, Iranian radio reported.

"Sarkuhi was charged with espionage and an attempt to leave the country illegally and his trial will begin soon," the radio, monitored by the British Broadcasting Corporation, quoted Yazdi as telling a news conference. It did not specify when the trial would be held.

Sarkuhi, editor of the monthly Adineh (Friday), has alleged in a letter smuggled out of Iran that he was held for six weeks and tortured by the Iranian secret service in Tehran late last year to force him to confess to spying for Germany.

Sarkuhi's wife, Farideh Zebarjad, who lives in Germany, has expressed concern that he is being held as a bargaining chip to put pressure on German authorities.

A German court in April ruled that Iran's leadership ordered the killings of a group of Iranian Kurdish exiles in Berlin in 1992. Iran denied the charges.

… In a 14-page handwritten letter published early this year by several German newspapers, which Bonn believes is genuine, Sarkuhi said he had been held by the Iranian secret service and forced under torture to confess in a taped interview that he had spied for Germany.

Regime Says Issues Raised at Denver Summit of Eight Are Old Hat, Iranian Television, June 23  

The summit of eight industrial countries in Denver, U.S.A., concluded its agenda by issuing a closing statement. The statement referred to various political, economic, social and environmental issues of the world, stressing the need to find suitable solutions to deal with the problems…

The Group of Eight expressed criticism about such hackneyed issues as Iran's peaceful nuclear activities, the Iranian people's support for the Palestinian people's Intifadha, the Islamic Republic's resolute stand on the verdict for Salman Rushdie the Apostate, and what they call the "role of human rights" in the West…

Iran Coal Mine Blast Kills 8, Traps 150 Underground, Dow Jones News, June 23 

TEHRAN - An explosion in a coal mine in northern Iran killed eight miners and left 150 trapped underground, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported Monday.

Thirty-one miners were also injured in the Sunday blast at the mine in Gilan province, the agency reported. The explosion occurred in a tunnel in the Sangerudeh Lowshan mine and was caused by an electric short circuit, IRNA reported in its Farsi-language service….

Turkish Police Arrest Man for Anti-Jewish Attack, Reuter, June 24  

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Turkish police Tuesday arrested the alleged mastermind of an Islamist armed attack four years ago against one of the country's leading Jewish businessmen, Anatolian news agency said.

It said Turkish national Ahmet Burak had asked to be sent to Turkey after being seized trying to enter Pakistan from Iran without a passport…

Burak is alleged to have provided the weapons and organized an attempt to kill Jak Kamhi, chairman of the home appliance manufacturer Profilo Holding.

… The attacks and other subsequent assassination attempts led to accusations by Turkish officials that Iran was aiding Islamist killings in Turkey.

More Arrests on Drug-related Charges in Isfahan, Reuter, June 24  

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Iranian police confiscated over 2,200 lbs. of opium from three gangs of drug traffickers in Isfahan, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said Tuesday.

Provincial intelligence official Mahmoud Shahidi, quoted by IRNA, said … provincial law enforcement officials had … arrested 59 drug traffickers.

It said that in the year to March 1997… 16,000 drug dealers [were] arrested.

According to Iranian law, possession of 11 lbs. of opium or just over one ounce of heroin is punishable by death...

[The Iranian regime often arrests and executes political dissidents on drug charges.]

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