Mullahs' President Mohammad Khatami praised the "important and decisive" role of the Revolutionary Guards (RG) in "different security arenas" and their "worthiness in executing important projects in the country," the clerical regime's state television announced last night. Khatami's remarks came in a meeting with the Revolutionary Guards' top commander, Rahim Safavi, his deputy Bagher Zolqadr, and several other commanders of the Guards Corps.

"The Revolutionary Guards showed their alertness in the case of the assassination attempt against Mr. Hajjarian. They cooperated with the Ministry of Intelligence and the State Security Council in the discovery and arrest of the perpetrators of the assault and proved their effective and valuable role in defending the firm basis of the Islamic Republic," Khatami said.

Khatami's profuse praise of the Revolutionary Guards, the backbone of the ruling religious, terrorist dictatorship, comes despite the fact that a number of Guards commanders were directly involved in the assault on Hajjarian. Three of them were sent abroad after the attack in a bid to prevent any disclosure of the chain of command of the masterminds and perpetrators of the assault.

The Iranian Resistance has reiterated in the past that Guards' Deputy Commander in Chief Bagher Zolqadr and several other RG senior commanders cooperated closely with the Intelligence Ministry in the serial political murders. A Tehran daily revealed yesterday that some of the perpetrators of the assassination attempt against Hajjarian were members of the Revolutionary Guards' special division in charge of the protection of Khatami's office. (Fat'h daily, March 29)

In his meeting with the Guards commanders, Khatami called on clerical factions to "stage a common confrontation with the new security phenomenon" which he called "our most important need for the stability and security of the country." He thus revealed the ruling mullahs' fears of instability.
 

Iran Court Summons Khatami Brother on Press Charge, Reuters, March 30

TEHRAN - A hardline court in Iran on Thursday summoned Reza Khatami, a brother of Mohammad Khatami, on unspecified charges linked to his outspoken pro-Khatami newspaper, the official news agency IRNA reported.

It said the press court's summons was apparently linked to libel charges against the daily Mosharekat. The paper is published by Reza Khatami, who heads the main political faction backing the president.

Newspapers said earlier that another hardline-led court had summoned Emadeddin Baqi, a pro-Khatami journalist, over his statements on the Hajjarian case.

Hajjarian remains under intensive care at a hospital, but doctors have said that his condition is improving.

Reformists have suggested that suspects held in the shooting were Islamic hardliners close to the Revolutionary Guards.
 

UNHRC; Human Rights Violations Continues in Iran, Agence France Presse, March 30

GENEVA - Copithorne has presented a report, dated January and covering the second half of last year, to the UN Human Rights Commission currently holding its six-week annual session here.

The report says Iran's law on human rights needs significant improvement, adding that the government has been neither thorough nor prompt in dealing with disappearances and suspicious deaths or in its handling of last July's student demonstrations.

It also noted press reports in Iran of sentences where fingers were amputated, a prisoner received 100 lashes before being sentenced to death and stoning for adultery.

Copithorne told reporters: "It is undeniable that human rights violations are continuing to occur in Iran."
 

French Group Protests Iranian Trial of Suspected Jewish Spies, Agence France Presse, March 30

PARIS - The French Representative Council of Jewish Institutions (CRIF) called Thursday for a demonstration in Paris in protest against the trial of 13 Iranian Jews accused of spying for Israel and the United States.

The CRIF, supported by leading French politicians, artists and religious figures, called the protest for April 6, a week before the suspects are due to stand trial in Iran.

"If anything happens to a single one of those Jews, Iran will be cutting itself off from the international community," the group said in a statement. 

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