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NICOSIA - An Iranian opposition group on Monday slammed a foundation for increasing its bounty on the head of writer Salman Rushdie and warned the British authorities against appeasing Iran.
"The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCR) strongly condemns the increase to 2.8 million dollars in the bounty for the murder of Salman Rushdie" by the Khordad 15 Foundation in Iran, the group said in a statement received here.
The Khordad 15 foundation upped its bounty by 300,000 dollars for carrying out the fatwa, Tehran newspapers reported.
"The British Foreign Office's placating policies and its shameful dealings with Iran's criminal rulers ... is the best encouragement for the mullahs to carry out the fatwa and increase the bounty," the NCR said.
The group charged: "The British Foreign Office today attempted to dissociate the (Khordad 15) Foundation from the government" of Iran.
A British Foreign Office spokesman insisted Monday that there was "no indication that that amount (offered) is in any way supported by the Iranian authorities."
In full-page newspaper advertisements Sunday, Khordad 15 renewed its bounty and said it was "an official Iranian revolutionary organization," apparently contradicting government efforts to distance itself.
In London, Frances d'Souza, head of Rushdie's support group, questioned whether Khordad 15 was a private foundation.
The foundation's director, Ayatollah Hassan Sanei Sanei, was a government advisor, she said, adding that Iranian sources had told her that if the foundation was ever to pay the bounty, it would need state assistance.
Tit for Tat, Agence France Presse, October 12
TEHRAN - The Iranian government does not feel obliged to intervene to secure the release of a German businessman condemned to death here because Bonn refused to help when the Tehran regime was in the dock in Germany last year, a Tehran newspaper said Monday.
The English-language Iran News scorned German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel for expressing "shock" over a Tehran court's upholding of a death sentence first passed against businessman Helmut Hofer in January for having an affair with a Moslem woman.
"Mr. Kinkel has chosen to forget the fact that Bonn ignored budding relations between the two countries by keeping its distance from the Mykonos trial and repeatedly stating that German judiciary is independent from the government," Iran News said.
The paper was referring to the trial in Berlin of an Iranian and four Lebanese accused of killing four Iranian Kurdish dissidents in the Mykonos restaurant in Berlin in 1992. The trial ended in April 1997 with the judge accusing the Tehran regime of involvement in the murders.
"Tehran's reluctance to intercede in Hofer's case is a natural reaction to Bonn's inaction in the Mykonos case," the daily said. "So Mr. Kinkel should not be 'shocked' that Tehran decided to abide by the letter of the law rather than invoking special circumstances.
"Tehran swallowed the German court's verdict with a smile, now it is the turn of Bonn to do the same," it said.
Expecting Low Turnout, Mullahs' Leader Recognizes Danger Ahead, Reuters, October 11
TEHRAN - Influential supporters of Iran's President Mohammad Khatami criticized conservative rivals on Sunday for hamstringing their prospects in key elections later this month.
The two leftist factions, which have close ties, also warned that a low voter turnout could ultimately undermine the legitimacy of Iran's Islamic system of government. But each stopped short of implementing earlier calls for an outright boycott.
Analysts and politicians have warned that a low turnout by a disillusioned electorate could badly weaken the Islamic republic. All Islamic factions would suffer as a result, they said.
Election officials say about 39 million Iranians are eligible to take part in the poll after a two-week campaign.
Clearly recognizing the danger ahead, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week called on all factions to promote a heavy turnout.
"Today, everyone should try to hold lively elections so that the enemy would be disappointed as in the past," Iranian television quoted him as saying.
Khamenei accused Western media of spearheading an attack to demoralize voters.
"Which people are elected is of secondary importance," Khamenei said, adding that factional disputes in the Islamic republic were "differences among brothers."
Khamenei said the enthusiastic and wide voter presence was of the highest priority and could ensure the revolution.