In the course of the aggravating power struggle in the clerical regime, Akbar Ganji, a former Revolutionary Guards commander and an intelligence official, wrote in a government-sponsored newspaper: "In the eight years of Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani's presidency, some 80 individuals were murdered for political reasons by sinister (Intelligence Ministry) circles." He added: "Saeed Emami (the then Deputy Intelligence Minister for security) carried out hundreds of successful operations outside the country during this period." (Sobh-e Emrouz daily, Jan. 19, 2000)

Ganji cited the case of the smuggling of 320 mm "super guns" to other countries and, addressing Rafsanjani, asked: "Was it not the case the sending missiles to Belgium, where the Belgian police discovered them hidden in a cargo ship carrying pickled cucumbers, jeopardized our national security?"

Rafsanjani himself acknowledged in an interview that during his presidency, "they (the Intelligence Ministry) had shipped missiles to a foreign country and they were discovered." (Hamshahri, Jan. 10, 2000)

The Sunday Times reported in June 1996 that "Western intelligence sources" believed the super gun was to be used in an attack on the residence of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, at Auvers-sur-Oise, north of Paris.
 

Mullahs Blackmail Germany for Light Sentencing Their Terrorist Spy, Associated Press, January 21

BERLIN - A German businessman freed by Iran after once being condemned to death for a relationship with an Iranian woman returned home Friday, ending a two-year legal odyssey that strained ties between Germany and Iran.

A Tehran judge announced Hofer's release Thursday, a day after a Berlin court gave a light sentence to an Iranian convicted of spying on Iranian opposition groups in Germany. Hamid Khorsand was sentenced to 1 1/2 years probation and fined the equivalent of $2,600.

The [National] Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany, which had criticized the sentence given to Khorsand as "encouragement" for Iran "to continue supporting terrorism without paying a high price," accused Germany on Friday of "appeasement" toward Tehran to secure Hofer's release.
 

Women Arrested for Violating "Islamic" Dress Code, Agence France Presse, January 22

TEHRAN - Iranian police arrested 10 young women for violating the country's strict Islamic dress code Saturday in a sweep through a well-to-do northern district of the capital.

Several of the young women were crying in the rear of the bus as they spoke to a police officer.

Women must wear either a black chador that covers them from head to toe or a raincoat and scarf that hides their hair. Dress code violations are punishable by whipping.
 

Iran Heritage Fares Worse Under Clerics' Regime Than in Previous 1,000 Years, Agence France Presse, January 22

TEHRAN - Iran's historic and cultural heritage has been damaged more since the 1979 Islamic Revolution than in the previous 1,000 years, an official acknowledged in a shock admission Saturday.

Iran's cultural heritage, which includes some 1.2 million historic and cultural sites, needs more attention and maintenance, he said.

Only three Iranian sites are listed by UNESCO, the UN body which deals with educational, scientific and cultural issues.

They are the 16th century Imperial Palace in the central city of Isfahan, the ancient capital of Persepolis near Shiraz in the south, and the Ziggurat of Shoga-Zanbil in Khuzestan province in the southwest, which dates from 1270 B.C. and is considered one of the oldest sites in the world.
 

Pro-Khatami Cleric Fails to Get His Conviction Quashed, Reuters, January 22

TEHRAN - Abdollah Nouri has failed to get a five-year jail sentence quashed, passed on him by a clerical court on dissent charges, state television said on Saturday.

Nouri, a cleric close to Khatami, was jailed for allegedly trying to undermine Iran's Islamic system.

In a letter to the prosecutor general, he called the ruling illegal and demanded that it be annulled.

Prosecutor General Morteza Moqtadaei dismissed that view: "As long as the leader (Khamenei) deems it in the interest of the country, the court will continue to exist and is legal."

"The clergy court can point out a crime and set a fitting punishment based on the (country's) penal code," he said. "Such a mandate is not confined to the general courts."

Back to Brief on Iran