The seventh branch of the Criminal Tribunal of Istanbul will convene on Friday, January 24, to continue examination of the case of murder of Mrs. Zahra Rajabi, member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, and Mr. Ali Moradi who were assassinated on February 20, 1996, in Istanbul by the Khomeini regime's terrorists.
Verified reports indicate that the mullahs' regime has sent its intelligence ministry agents to Turkey to observe the court proceedings and make use of every economic and political means to prevent exposure of the direct role of the regime's diplomats in this murder.
The Iranian Resistance had already revealed that one of the subjects of discussions between Rafsanjani and his entourage on the one hand and the Turkish officials on the other, was the abovementioned trial. Other reports indicate that negotiations also took place before this visit, in a meeting of Iran-Turkey Joint Security Committee, where the Khomeini regime asked the Turkish authorities to quickly wrap up this and another trial for the murderers of Akbar Ghorbani (assassinated in June 1992 in Istanbul) and acquit the accused killers.
Dozens of parliamentarians and hundreds of human rights advocates and organizations, as well as Iranian supporters of the Resistance, have sent letters to the President of Turkey, Mr. Suleyman Demirel, and asked him to provide sufficient guarantees to prevent any pressure on the judiciary which must bring justice to the perpetrators of this murder. The French-based International Federation of the Leagues of Human Rights (FIDH) denounced every probable concessions in this trial and will send an observer to the court.
It should be noted that one of the murderers, Reza Massoumi, an agent of Tehran's Intelligence Ministry, has confessed to the Turkish Police about the role of the Iranian regime's diplomats in the assassination of Mrs. Rajabi and Mr. Moradi, including consular secretary Mohsen Kargar Azad, as well as three agents who had flown from Tehran to help carry out this terrorist operation.
The Iranian Resistance condemns the mullahs' abominable blackmail and urges the government and judiciary of Turkey to disregard Tehran's pressures. The NCR demands justice for the murderers of Zahra Rajabi and Ali Moradi and believes that the mullahs' ambassador and Consul in Turkey must be summoned to explain in the court about the role of the Khomeini regime's terrorist diplomats in this crime.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran - Paris
January 22, 1997
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