TEHRAN - An Iranian court on Thursday sentenced Tehran's mayor to five years in jail and banned him from holding public office for 20 years on charges of graft, depriving moderate President Mohammad Khatami of a potent ally.

The judge also ordered Gholamhossein Karbaschi, 45, to pay a fine of one billion rials ($333,000) and receive 60 lashes, the latter suspended for four years.

Karbaschi was not present when the judge found him guilty of embezzlement, squandering state property and mismanagement.

The mayor was also directed to repay 17.6 billion rials in looted public property to the city coffers.

Most damaging to Karbaschi, a hard-charging manager with impeccable Islamic revolutionary credentials and a once-bright future, he was barred from government office for 20 years.

That ruling was the latest blow to Khatami.

Parliament last month ousted another key Khatami ally, his interior minister who drove through political liberalization by giving political groups greater freedom to demonstrate.

The weight of the verdict took many observers by surprise.

One former judge said that lesser sentences were commonly handed down in such cases. "It is not unlikely that political considerations have affected this verdict," he said.

"Karbaschi's Conviction A Heavy Blow Which Will Escalate Mullahs' Power Struggle", Iran Zamin News Agency, July 23

This morning, Tehran's mayor Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi was convicted of embezzlement of public funds and corruption.

Mr. Massoud Rajavi, President of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said in this regard: "The verdict is a heavy blow by mullahs' leader Ali Khamenei to Khatami's faction and will exacerbate the power struggle within the regime."

Mr. Rajavi stressed: "The conviction of Karbaschi, a cabinet member for 10 years, is a clear testament to the astronomical dimensions of corruption and graft in all levels of the clerical regime. It became clear during the trial that highest officials, from Khamenei and Rafsanjani to successive Interior Ministers, were fully aware of Karbaschi's actions and themselves involved in plundering public funds.

Iran Tests Its Mid-Range Missile, Associated Press, July 23

NEW YORK - Iran this week successfully tested a missile with a range of about 800 miles, meaning it could hit Israel or Saudi Arabia and U.S. forces in the region, according to published reports today.

U.S. intelligence agencies detected the test late Tuesday or early Wednesday, tracking the launch and path of the medium-range missile called Shahab-3, The New York Times and The Washington Times reported today.

Another official, also unidentified, told the Washington newspaper: "It is a significant development because it puts all U.S. forces in the region at risk."

Iran also is building another version of the missile, which is expected to have a range of up to 1,240 miles -- long enough to reach central Europe, The Washington Times reported.

The test comes a month after Secretary of State Madeleine Albright praised Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who took office last summer.

"This test shows Iran is bent on acquiring nuclear weapons, because no one builds an 800-mile missile to deliver conventional explosives," Gary Milhollin, an expert on the spread of weaponry, told The News York Times.

Iranian Resistance Underscores Need to Impose Sanction on Clerical Regime, Iran Zamin News Agency, July 23

Following the regime's test firing yesterday of a medium-range missile, with a range of 800 miles, the National Council of Resistance's representative in the United States said: "Continuing production and stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction by the regime reaffirm the need to impose comprehensive arms, trade and diplomatic sanctions on the mullahs' regime as the most serious threat to peace and tranquillity in the region."

The missile tested yesterday, Shahab-3, is capable of carrying chemical and nuclear warheads. Last January, the Iranian Resistance revealed precise information about this missile.

The NCR representative added: "The project to obtain weapons of mass destruction, including medium-range missiles, has been on the clerical regime's agenda since Hashemi Rafsanjani's presidency and pursued relentlessly during Mohammad Khatami's tenure. A huge budget has been allocated to this project."

Also, last January, the Iranian Resistance disclosed that although Khamenei holds full command of arms deployment, it is the regime's president, Mohammad Khatami, who controls and directs missile production.
 

 
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