PARIS - French police detained a group of Iranian-born people who flew into Paris from Canada on Monday to protest against a visit by Mohammad Khatami later this week.

Police said a dozen people had been detained at Charles de Gaulle airport and would be sent home the next day because they were on a list of people seen as a risk to public order.

A member of the group contacted Reuters by telephone to say there were 15 in total, all Canadian passport holders, who had been kept at the airport since early on Monday.

"We're here because Khatami's going to be here. They told us to our faces that because we were born in Iran we could not come here," said the group member, accusing the French authorities of detaining her group without food since the morning.

Khatami starts an official visit to France on Wednesday. Iranian exiles, human rights groups and other organizations are planning protests in Paris on Wednesday, saying the visit will legitimize a country with a bad record on human rights and terrorism.
 

Former "Hanging Judge" Now Backs Khatami, The New York Times, October 23

QUM - … Twenty years ago, [Sadeq]Khalkhali was the Islamic revolution's Robespierre, the grim avenger who condemned hundreds and possibly thousands of men and women to death, some after trials that lasted only five minutes, or after no trials at all. He made his grim mark on the American consciousness in April 1980, when, in cleric's robes and turban, he was reported to have poked at the charred bodies of American commandos killed in the failed attempt to rescue hostages from the United States Embassy…

He was with Khatami "100 percent, more or less," he said, but not with the "troublemakers" who attached themselves to the reform cause. "There are always troublemakers, everywhere," he said. "Our enemies in the Western world would like nothing better than for us to fall into chaos, but it won't happen, I can assure you." …
 

Iran Executes Three More, Reuters, October 25

TEHRAN - Iran has hanged three Afghani men for drug trafficking, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The three were hanged last Wednesday after being convicted by a court of selling 500 grams of heroin and possessing larger quantities, the daily Hamshahri said.
 

Iran Gift Sparks University Row, The Sunday Times, October 24

The Iranian government has made donations worth £180,000 to London University, fuelling protests among students and academics that the university is becoming too closely involved with a repressive regime.

The Iranian ministry of higher education and the Islamic Centre England, based in Maida Vale, west London, are funding two three-year fellowships at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). The academics will teach classical Persian literature and Shi'ite Islam. Two Iranian research students will study at SOAS in return for the donation.

Concerns have been raised that the brother of one of the fellows is the head of Iran's feared Revolutionary Guards, although the academic himself is said to be a liberal. The Islamic Centre has also been criticized for being close to reactionary parts of the Iranian regime.

"Given the record of the Iranian regime, there is a lot of concern about the appointments. Some people are too worried to broach the subject," said Lizzie Prior, head of the SOAS students' union.

Some Iranians at London University are concerned that they might have to be careful what they say in the hearing of someone with close connections to the Iranian ruling establishment.

Despite the recent warming of relations, Iran's recent human rights record is described as "very poor" by the human rights group Amnesty International. Student protests have been harshly put down…
 

Court Jails Cleric - Paper, Reuters, October 25

TEHRAN - A court has jailed a cleric for one year for signing a petition against the house arrest of a leading dissident clergyman, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The daily Khordad said the Special Court for Clergy issued the sentence after convicting Akbar Tajik-Saeedi, prayer leader at a Tehran mosque, of "propagating for Montazeri, spreading lies and confusing public opinion."

It said Tajik-Saeedi had been among 180 Shi'ite Moslem clerics and seminary students who issued a public letter protesting at the house arrest since late 1997 of Montazeri for criticising the country's system of supreme clerical rule.

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