The clerical regime's president, Mohammad Khatami, today gave his tacit backing to the Special Court for the Clergy and the SCC verdict on his former Interior Minister and Deputy President, Abdollah Nouri. In a speech at a student gathering in Tehran's University of Science and Technology, Khatami said: "The fact that this was an open trial with the presence of a lawyer was a sign of the
maturity and strength of the Islamic Republic regime."

Khatami's comments follow weeks of attacks on the SCC and its verdict on Abdollah Nouri by various factions within the regime, even Khatami's own supporters, who have questioned the court's legality.

Asked about the serial murders of dissidents and intellectuals by the mullahs' Intelligence Ministry, Khatami claimed that "certain issues always occur in all intelligence agencies in the world." He said "the people have been told the truth, with no cover-ups whatsoever."

Throughout the past year, Khatami has been working in complete collusion with Khamenei in order to conceal the identities of the masterminds and perpetrators of the murders. He recently disbanded the "fact-finding committee" he had set up a year ago to probe into the killings.

Fearful of a repeat of the July uprising that shook the very foundations of the clerical regime, Khatami repeatedly urged the students to be peaceful and warned them against "violence, mayhem and chaos."

Khatami's remarks today were all aimed at justifying the policies of the mullahs' Supreme Leader and showed how obediently he is following Khamenei. He made no mention of his former rhetoric about a "civil society" and "rule of law."
 

IRANIAN STUDENTS RALLY IN TEHRAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS, DECEMBER 13

TEHRAN -Thousands of student rallied in Tehran on Monday, and some made an unprecedented challenge to the authority of the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

The scene at Tehran University was tense, and some demonstrators clashed with about 20 hard-liners who tried to interrupt the rally.

In Iran, the supreme leader is considered above the law. At Monday's rally, however, that authority was put into question.
 

PARAMILITARY COMMANDER STABBED TO DEATH, ASSOCIATED PRESS, DECEMBER 13

TEHRAN - A commander of Iran's volunteer Basij militia has been stabbed to death in Tehran, Iranian television reported Monday.

Hadi Mohebbi was killed in his shop in eastern Tehran by "hooligans and thugs," according to the report. No further details were provided.

The Basij is a hard-line militia that was instrumental in ending pro-democracy riots that erupted July 8 in Tehran and spread to several other Iranian cities.

Basij leaders have said there are 5 million members of the militia in Iran.
 

UNDER MULLAHS' "RULE OF LAW" MAN CONNED 17 "WIVES", REUTERS, DECEMBER 13

TEHRAN - Iranian police have arrested a man who stole money from 17 women he had made his concubines, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The man, identified only as Mohammad, admitted to police that he befriended women he picked up in his taxi and persuaded them to marry him under Iran's temporary marriage laws, the daily Azad said. He would later "borrow" money from them and disappear.

Under Iran's laws, a man may have up to four wives and any number of "temporary wives" simultaneously.
 

AMERICAN JAILED FOR SALE OF MISSILE PARTS TO IRAN, REUTERS, DECEMBER 13

NEWARK, N.J. - A man was sentenced on Monday to 28 months in federal prison for illegally selling missile parts to Iran, U.S. Attorney Robert Cleary said.

U.S. District Court Judge Alfred Wolin also ordered Daniel Malloy, 42, of Oradell, New Jersey to pay a $750,000 fine and forfeit $1.88 million in profits he made from trading with Iran, Assistant U.S. Attorney Noel Hillman said.

Malloy admitted that in February 1997 he ordered 20 missile batteries from a Missouri company to ship to Joseph T.P. Balakrishna Menon of Singapore, knowing Menon would send them to Iran.

The batteries are the primary power source for the AIM-54 Phoenix missile, a long range air-to-air missile used exclusively on F-14A fighter aircraft. Iran is the only other country besides the United States that has the weapons system.
 

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