The hangings bring to 73 the number of those stoned or hanged in public since Khatami took office 4 months ago.
In another development, in his Friday prayer sermon, mullah Mohammad Yazdi, the head of the Judiciary, accused dissident clergymen and theology students of "conspiracy, schemes and deceit" and threatened them with arrest and prosecution. Yazdi said the Judiciary will be tough in its approach to these people.
Simultaneous with these repressive measures, the terrorist operations of the Khomeini regime have also escalated. An attempted rocket attack on the Mojahedin headquarters in Baghdad on December 19, the assassination of five dissident Iranian Kurds in the Iraqi Kurdistan, and terrorist activities in the past week against supporters of the Mojahedin in Scandinavia are but a few examples.
These actions occurred simultaneous with, or immediately after, the Islamic Conference summit in Tehran which strongly condemned terrorism and murder under the banner of Islam. They affirm that any notion of change or reforms within this regime is a mirage and that the mullahs are not bound by any principles, commitments or rules.
Engulfed in increasing internal feuding and incapable of confronting the Iranian people's resistance, the clerical regime finds itself in need of suppression and export of terrorism as never before.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
December 20, 1997
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