TEHRAN - Iran has arrested a number of Intelligence Ministry officials in the slayings of five dissidents, the ministry acknowledged Tuesday -- a rare admission of official complicity in the killings of government opponents.

Thousands of students and intellectuals demonstrated at the time to protest the killings. They also called for the dismissal of Iranian intelligence officials.

In a statement given to the official Islamic Republic News Agency, the Intelligence Ministry said Tuesday it had arrested a number of ministry officials in the killings. It did not say how many.
 
 

Ansar Hezbollah Founder Seeks Asylum in Germany, Claims Information on Recent Killings! Agence France Presse, January 5

FRANKFURT, Germany - An Iranian politician believed to be holding information about a spate of murders of intellectuals and dissidents in Iran has requested political asylum in Germany, Frankfurt's refugee aid association Pro Asyl said Tuesday.

According to Pro Asyl spokesman Bernd Mesovic, the man, whose name has been withheld for security reasons, filed for asylum at Frankfurt airport.

The man is believed to be "in great danger" in Iran because of his knowledge of repression in his country, and his location in Germany is being kept secret, a judicial source said.

The man is one of the founders of the Ansar Hezbollah organization, which is active against liberal newspapers and demonstrators.
 
 

Extremist Group Planning To Kill Rushdie, Claims Responsibility For Recent Killings! Agence France Presse, January 5

TEHRAN - A shadowy Iranian extremist group is planning to murder British author Salman Rusdie, accused here of committing blasphemy against Islam, the paper Zan reported Tuesday.

The self-styled "Fedayeen (Devotees) of Pure Mohammedan Islam" is reportedly "preparing to put into effect the historic Fatwa."

It said the group had also repeated its earlier claim that it was responsible for the recent murders of dissidents and writers in Iran.

The group released a statement announcing it "is currently using all means at its disposal to plan the application" of the death sentence, according to the generally well informed paper.

"The revolutionary executions are a warning to all those whose pens are in the service of foreigners and want Iran's return to foreign domination," the group had said in a statement published December in Khordad daily.

Zan said the "group is said to have an organized structure, with a judicial section run by three judges," and that victims "had been judged and condemned to death in their absence, and executed by the group."
 
 

Head of Tehran Judiciary Attacked, Reuter, January 5

TEHRAN - A senior Iranian justice official was wounded and a colleague was killed on Tuesday when a hand grenade was hurled at their car, Iranian state media reported.

Iran's official news agency IRNA said an unknown assailant hurled the grenade at the vehicle in which Ali Razini, the head of the Tehran judiciary, was travelling after leaving work.

Iranian state television said a judiciary employee travelling in the car was killed and Razini and three passengers were wounded and taken to a hospital. It gave no details of their condition.
 
 

Six Day Sit-In by 4,000 Workers of Kashan, Iran Zamin News Agency, January 5

The staff of the Social Welfare Hospital in Kashan (200 km south of Tehran) stopped work last Wednesday and staged a sit-in in the courtyard of the hospital to protest the regime's decision to transfer the management of this hospital to the Ministry of Health and Medical Care. The workers chanted slogans denouncing the repressive policies of the clerical regime.

The next day, workers from other factories in Kashan joined them and the number of participants in the sit-in gradually swelled to 4,000. Many industrial units in this city were almost shut down as the result.

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