Back to Brief on Iran
PARIS - Mohammad Khatami will make the first visit to France by an Iranian head of state since the 1979 Islamic revolution, from October 27-29, the French presidency announced Friday.
Problems may arise due to protests planned by Iranian opposition groups in France, including one begun Thursday by about one hundred opponents to the Islamic regime who plan a six-day sit-in on the Troacadero square near the Eiffel Tower.
It was organized by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which calls itself a parliament in exile and is primarily made up of the main Iranian opposition movement, the People’s Mujahedeen.
The NCRI accuses Khatami of leading a religious dictatorship responsible for more than 120,000 political executions.
"We want to show the French people that Khatami is not welcome," said Hedayat Mostowfi, an official from the organization.
The group says it will organize a bigger demonstration on Wednesday, when the Khatami is due to arrive.
French anti-racism movement MRAP also opposes Khatami’s visit, and the Greens, a member of France’s ruling coalition, plan a press conference the day before his arrival at the parliament in support of Iranian prisoners who have been sentenced to death.
They will reportedly press Khatami on the issue of human rights violations by Iranian clerics and on the case of 13 Iranian Jews jailed on charges of spying for Israel.
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said recently that he and Jospin would remind Khatami that the international community was paying close attention to the case.
The conservative Iranian press has
criticized the conditions of Khatami’s visit.
Iran Hangs Two Teenagers Outside Murder House, Reuters, October 24
TEHRAN - Two teenagers were hanged in northern Iran for murder and robbery, newspapers said on Sunday.
Milan Zamin-Afshan, 19, and Ebrahim Qorbanzadeh, 17, were hanged in the Caspian city of Rasht after they were found guilty of murdering a man and his 16-year-old son, the daily Qods said.
A court had ordered they be hanged
outside the house where they committed the crime.
Mullahs’ Officials Held in Turkey over the Murder of a Secular Writer, Agence France Presse, 24 October
TEHRAN - The arrest of three Iranians in Ankara over the murder of a leading Turkish intellectual shows the power of "pro-Zionist" elements in Turkey, a conservative daily said here on Sunday.
"The arrest of three Iranians and its widespread coverage in the (secular) press indicate the influence of the pro-Zionist elements in some decision-making bodies in Turkey," the Tehran Times said.
The three unnamed Iranian nationals, who were reportedly freed late Saturday, were detained at Ankara airport Friday after being suspected of involvement in the bomb attack that killed Ahmet Taner Kislali, Turkish papers reported.
Kislali, a prominent academic and columnist who defended Turkey’s secular state against moves to make the nation more Islamic, was killed Thursday by a bomb inside a package that had been left on the hood of his car.
Turkey’s Cumhuriyet daily said the Iranian embassy in Ankara had asked for the men to be released because they were Tehran government officials, but added they were carrying regular travel documents, not diplomatic or official passports.
The Islamic republic of Iran and neighboring secular Turkey have had a stormy relationship in recent years, with Ankara accusing Tehran of backing underground Muslim extremist groups in Turkey.
Meanwhile Iran has been angered by
Turkey’s military cooperation accord with Israel.
Mullahs’ Paper States Ransom for Release of the German Businessman, State-Controlled Daily Tehran Times, October 24
TEHRAN - The former German foreign minister Klaus Kinkel said in an interview with a German daily on Thursday that Iran’s measure against Helmut Hofer and Germany is a nasty game. He also called on German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and German foreign minister to make it clear to the Iranian officials that Hofer is innocent and should be freed immediately.
… Kinkel claims that Hofer is innocent and should be freed immediately, but he simply ignores the case of innocent Kazem Darabi, who has been imprisoned in Germany for years.
The German officials had earlier announced that Darabi, who is in jail for alleged involvement in the murder of four Kurds in a Berlin restaurant, would be freed. However, Darabi is still in jail waiting for his release.