NICOSIA—The Iranian security forces have arrested 2,000 people in Sanandaj following a wave of demonstrations in the major city in Iranian Kurdistan, the main armed Iranian opposition group said Wednesday.

The People's Mojahedin, in a statement received here, also said an unspecified number of high school students had been killed during the disturbances.

"Following the heroic uprising of the people of Sanandaj last Monday, the revolutionary Guards Corps and Intelligence Ministry forces launched a major wave of arrests in that city," the statement said, adding that "2,000 of the city's youth have been arrested so far."

The People's Mojahedin said a "de facto state of emergency" had been declared in Sanandaj and security forces were stationed throughout the city.

A Tehran newspaper reported Wednesday that three people had been killed on Monday during protests in Sanandaj.

Iranian Kurdistan has been the scene of violent demonstrations in recent days calling for Turkey to release Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan.
 
 

Iranian Town's Mosques Collect Donations To Finance Rushdie Assassination, Agence France Presse, Feb. 24

Mosques in a northern Iranian town have begun collecting donations to help finance the assassination of British author Salman Rushdie, a Tehran evening newspaper reported Wednesday.

The mosques in the town of Behshahr have founded an "Islamic People's Association" charged with collecting money to carry out the "fatwa" or religious decree condemning Rushdie to death, Kayhan said.

"The association intends to apply the fatwa of Imam Khomenei and was set up by cultural centers and mosques in Behshahr," the newspaper said.

The newspaper quoted an association official as saying it had received offers of "land, houses, carpets, jewelry and money to help finance the application of the fatwa."

Meanwhile, influential members of Iran's Shiite Moslem clergy issued calls for the death sentence against Rushdie to be carried out.

The Khordad-15 Foundation, which has placed a 2.8 million dollar bounty on Rushdie's head, insisted on the 10th anniversary of Khomenei's fatwa that the death sentence against the writer would be applied.
 
 

Mullahs' Minister Protests Indian Visa to Rushdie, United Press International, February 24

Iran has criticized India for granting a visa to Salman Rushdie, author of the controversial book, "The Satanic Verses."

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told reporters today that granting a visa to Rushdie could weaken bilateral ties.

Kharrazi said India's ruling coalition should not have granted visa to Rushdie

Although Iran had distanced itself from the death call last year, some Iranians still seek Rushdie's blood, and one Iranian foundation has placed a bounty of $2.8 million on Rushdie's head.

[Iran's Official news agency, IRNA, reported earlier that on the anniversary of Khomeini’s death decree against Rushdie, the Revolutionary Guards Corps issued a statement reiterating that the fatwa against the British writer is irrevocable.]
 
 

Daily Brief on Islamic Councils’ Elections, State-Run News Agency, IRNA, Feb. 24

The head of the central supervisory board on the Islamic Councils’ elections reaffirmed the ruling by the board, rejecting the competence of 12 candidates for Tehran’s city council elections. He said that if the Ministry of the Interior does not remove the names of those candidates from the list of approved candidates, the board will declare the elections in Tehran null and void.

Movahedi Savoji stressed that decisions by the central supervisory board as regards the rejection or approval of the candidates are definite and binding and no one can reject them.

The central supervisory board on Sunday rejected the competence of 12 candidates for Tehran’s city council, including the former Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri.
 
 

Six Injured in Iran Electoral Campaign Violence, Reuter, February 24

Six people were injured in clashes in a Tehran suburb between supporters of two rival candidates ahead of this week's nationwide local council elections, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The clashes took place on Tuesday in Mahshahr region of Karaj, a town 24 miles west of the capital, Jomhuri-ye Eslami daily said.

Two of the six sustained serious knife wounds and were in critical condition at a Tehran hospital. The newspaper gave no further details on the incidents.

Newspapers have reported a string of incidents in connection with Friday's polls.

The polls have been marked by political tension, especially in Tehran and several other major cities.

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