Iranian Resistance Urges International Pressure To Investigate Iranian Regime's Prisons, Iran Zamin News Agency, June 25 

Today, the NCR reported that: in a press conference in Tehran, Mohammad Yazdi, head of the mullahs' Judiciary, claimed that "there are no political prisoners in Iran."

This is while in the past years, the mullahs' anti-human regime has executed more than 100,000 political prisoners in Iran and arrested a larger number of people, the NCR said in its statement.

In recent years, many political opponents and dissidents in Iran have been arrested or executed under the pretext of ordinary crimes such as drug trafficking.

According to the NCR, on June 16, Assadollah Lajevardi, head of the regime's prisons' organization, said that there are at least 138,000 prisoners in Iran. This official figure —which is considerably below the actual number of prisoners in Iran— shows at least 40% increase relative to the number announced last year by Lajevardi. At the same time, the number of publicly announced executions tripled in 1996 relative to the previous year.

The NCR's statement added that yesterday, Yazdi's deputy, Mohammad Abbassifar, specifically announced that the regime's security is superior to the fundamental human rights and freedoms.

The Iranian Resistance once again calls on the international community to exert pressure to open the Iranian regime's prisons to international investigative missions accompanied by representatives of the Iranian Resistance, something that the regime has refused to do so for 15 years.

Iranian Resistance Calls on International Community To Defend Human Rights And Confront Terrorism, NCR, June 25 

In a statement issued today, the NCR said that: following the G-7 statement against export of terrorism by the Iranian regime, the spokesman of the mullahs' Foreign Ministry made a preposterous reaction this morning, describing the regime as "the real victim of terrorism, supported by some foreign countries."

In an obvious act of blackmail, Tehran's rulers, who are alarmed by the international activities of the Resistance, have used their Foreign Ministry spokesman to demand that the industrial countries limit the freedom of action of the supporters and activists of the Iranian Resistance who enjoy the sacred right to asylum.

According to the NCR, the appeasement of Iran's ruling theocracy by some Western countries has encouraged the regime in adopting such shameless positions and emboldened the mullahs in their continuation of suppression and export of terrorism.

"Recalling the April 10 verdict by the Court of Berlin and the recent remarks by the Swiss investigative magistrate which confirm the responsibility of the regime's leaders in the assassination of opponents in other countries, the NCR reiterates: The time has come for the international community to show its will in confronting terrorism and defending human rights and democracy by adopting a decisive policy and imposing comprehensive trade and diplomatic sanctions against the mullahs' regime."

EU Stance on Iran Ambassadors Unchanged, Reuters, June 25  

European Union foreign ministers will discuss on Thursday whether to return their ambassadors to Iran, but are expected to keep them at home because of Tehran's refusal to re-admit the German envoy.

Diplomats said on Wednesday that the ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, are expected to retain their policy that no ambassador from the 15-nation bloc should return until all do….

The ambassadors were withdrawn in April and the EU's so-called constructive dialogue with Iran ended after a German court implicated Tehran in the killing of Iranian Kurdish opposition leaders in Berlin.

The EU has since said it would return the ambassadors, but Iran has refused to accept the German.

Iranian Missile Threat, United Press International, June 25

An Israeli newspaper says Iran will have the missile capability to hit any point in Israel within two years.

The mass-circulation Ma'ariv newspaper quotes unnamed military officials as saying the missiles will have a range of 715 miles, capable of reaching any Israeli target.

One senior army officer says the new missiles are "a change for the worse in the military balance."

Israel had originally thought Iran would develop long-range missiles only by the turn of the century, but the newspaper says it accelerated development by employing Russian technology and manpower.

The missiles, originally obtained from North Korea, will also be capable of carrying biological or chemical warheads, the report said.

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