Terrorists dispatched by Tehran assassinated Mrs. Zahra Rajabi, a senior official of the Iranian Resistance, and Mr. Ali Panah Moradi, a long-time Mojahedin sympathizer, in the Aksaray district of Istanbul on February 20.

Mrs. Rajabi had been in Turkey since January 27 to assess the plight of Iranian refugees in that country. Holding the clerical regime responsible for the killings, in telegrams to the President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Turkey, the NCR Pr esident Massoud Rajavi demanded the closure of the clerical regime's embassy and consulates in that country. He also called for urgent intervention and initiative of the United Nations Secretary General, Security Council, Human Rights Commission, High Commissioner for Refugees, Human Rights Commission's Special Representative on Iran to address the cowardly murd ers.

SAVAMA murders dissidents

Sabah, Feb. 23 - One of the two Iranians killed yesterday in Aksaray was Zahra Rajabi, member of the National Council of Resistance. This murder is said to be carried out by the Iranian secret service.

Massoud Rajavi, the group's leader, said Zahra Rajabi had escaped another attempt on her life in 1992 in Germany. Her sister and husband were executed in Iran in 1981. Counting the two killed yesterday in Turkey, the number of people killed in Turkey r eaches 50. Massoud Rajavi urged the Government of Turkey to arrest the assassins.

Dissidents accuse Iran envoy of killing exiles

Reuters, Feb. 29 - An Iranian opposition group said on Thursday it had identified an Iranian diplomat based in Turkey and two other agents as being involved in the murder of two dissidents in Istanbul last week.

The National Council of Resistance, linked to the Iraq-based Mujahideen Khalq armed opposition, said Mohammad Esfahlani, who it alleged was an Iranian intelligence operative assigned to the consulate in Istanbul under diplomatic cover, had helped carry out the murders.

It said the agent, whose duties included monitoring Iranian exiles in Turkey, had been following Moradi and surveying the apartment where the pair were staying.

The Iranian embassy in Ankara dismissed the charges as groundless, saying the names of the alleged killers as provided by the National Council were fabricated. Authorities said Rajabi and Moradi were shot dead in a flat they were sharing in the Aksaray district of Istanbul on February 20.

The Paris group also provided what it said were names and details of travel documents used by Iranian intelligence to infiltrate two other agents into Turkey.

Rajavi said Rajabi had been active in the Iranian opposition since 1977, serving as a member of the Mujahideen leadership since 1993.

Thousands protest killings

AP, Feb. 25 - "Terrorist mullahs, out of the U.N. ... down with mullah terrorism in Turkey," demonstrators chanted in English and Persian at a downtown rally in memory of two fallen workers of the Iranian resistance, Zahra Rajabi and Abdol-Ali Moradi.

The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran and its U.S. representatives have charged the two were victims of "cowardly assassinations" in Istanbul by terrorists working for the Iranian Islamic fundamentalist government in Tehran.

The council said demonstrations were also staged Friday and Saturday in London; Sydney; The Hague, Netherlands; Ottawa and Vancouver, Canada; Stockholm and Gothenburg, Sweden; Oslo; Bonn; Geneva; Rome and Los Angeles.

At Vancouver, the demonstrators sent a resolution to Prof. Maurice Danby Copithorne, Canadian special representative on Iran for the U.N. Human Rights Commission, seeking inclusion of the latest killings in his report.

Place of murder: Turkey

Frankfurter Rundschau, Feb. 23 - Editorial: Zahra Rajabi was a leading member of the National Council of Resistance. The council is suppressed full force by the leaders of the mullahs' republic. The murder of four Iranian Kurdish dissidents in a restaurant in Berlin revealed that inter-governmental laws and limits are little noticed. All the leads clearly point to the regime in Tehran. The fatwa against Salman Rushdie showed that murder is viewed as a permissible means at the top of the governm ent.

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION FARCE

VOA, Feb. 29 - Despite official propaganda to encourage people to participate in the elections, the already low key general expectation and euphoria died down when the names of the candidates were made public.

Evidently, the composition of the future Majlis will be no different from the previous one. The way candidates' credentials were approved showed that the spirit governing the elections is what Jannati, the Council of Guardians secretary, echoed: Maximu m caution to prevent the election of those out of step with the ruling factions.

One should not, therefore, expect anything unusual. The only point of curiosity is the extent to which the regime can coerce the public to vote. Atta'ollah Mohajerani, Rafsanjani's parliamentary deputy said recently that in the first Majlis elections 2 .5 million people voted in Tehran. Four years ago, despite the population growth, only 1.7 million turned out. We must anxiously await to see what happens on March 8.

Warning candidates against dissent

Tehran radio, Feb. 28 - In its session last night, the Supreme National Security Council warned all the candidates if they try to weaken the government or question and criticize the achievements of the Islamic revolution in any shape or form, they will be dealt with according to the law.

Outright theatrics

BBC radio, Feb. 27 - Azam Taleqani, a member of the regime's delegation to the Fourth World Women Conference in Beijing: "Under the current circumstances, there is talk of formation of parties to give the idea that the elections are free. But as far as the people are concerned, all of these ploys are outright theatrics."

Absolute loyalty, the sole criterion

Tehran radio, Feb. 24 - In his Friday prayer sermon, Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Council of Guardians said People have been rejected from the list of the candidates for various reasons. Some had problems with practical commitment to Islam, some to t he regime and the constitution, and some with the Velayat-e Faqih. Some were linked to the [opposition] groups. When we checked their files with the headquarters, we were told they had contacts or were affiliated with deviant groups... Imagine what would happen to the country if someone gets elected and is later found to have links with the Mojahedin...

People say no!

Salaam, Feb. 24 - A reader: "I have neither a Bachelor's degree, nor any interest in participating in the elections. I belong to the deprived people who participated in the war (against Iraq). But swear to God, I will not vote since the results are already known."

Explosion in Israel condemned

NCR Secretariat, Mar. 4 - The National Council of Resistance of Iran strongly condemns today's explosion in Jerusalem which left scores killed or wounded and extends condolences to the families of the victims.

Such terrorist crimes are only desirable for the religious, terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran which is the principal enemy of peace in the Middle East and the fountainhead of exporting fundamentalism and terrorism.

The Khomeini regime's radio, television and print media welcomed last Sunday's explosion in Jerusalem. Only three days after, on Wednesday, February 28, Hassan Habibi, Rafsanjani's first deputy, and Ali Akbar Velayati, the mullahs' foreign minister, me t a number of groups in the region, who are the enemies of the peace process, and stressed upon the clerical regime's support for them and such terrorist acts.

Velayat-e Faqih is the pivote

Tehran radio, Feb. 27 - In a meeting with members of Assembly of Experts, Rafsanjani called the Velayat-e Faqih (absolute rule of jurisprudent) the pivot of the Islamic Revolution and reiterated that prominence of leadership and velayat-e faqih are big assets of the country securing the victory of the Islamic revolution. By relying on this principle, the enemies' plots can be nullified and we can attain the goals and aspirations and sacred values of the Islamic revolution.

FEATURE

"Iran's foreign policy: kill dissidents abroad, Teheran uses hit squads as vote-catchers," The Sunday Telegraph,
February 25, 1996,
By Con Coughlin:

As Iran enters the final phase of its election campaign, President Hashemi Rafsanjani is believed to have ordered terrorist his squads to conduct a series of political assassinations in Europe.

The latest victims were two dissidents murdered in Turkey last week. Zahra Rajabi, a leading member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), had five bullets fired into her head at point-blank range after gunmen burst into her Istanbul apa rtment last Tuesday. Abdul Ali Moradi, a male colleague, was also killed.

Mrs. Rajabi, who worked at the NCRI's Paris headquarters, had been in Turkey for two weeks to assess the plight of Iranian refugees.

The killings follow the abduction and torture of the Iranian dissident living in Germany three weeks ago. The 28-year-old student was kidnapped from his house near Bonn by Iranian agents, taken to a house and tortured for 48 hours. He escaped while bei ng transferred to another house.

According to information passed to Iranian dissidents based in Britain, the German incident followed a visit by staff from the Iranian embassy in Bonn to Teheran where they received their instructions from intelligence chiefs. Iran's largest intelligen ce centre in Europe is based in Bonn.

The increase in Iranian terrorist activity is said to have been personally ordered by Rafsanjani at a special meeting of Iran's Supreme Security Council in Teheran at the end of last year.

Ali Fallahian, the Iranian intelligence chief, and Ali Akbar Velayati, the foreign minister, were among several key Iranian officials who took part in the meeting, according to intelligence sources.

Iran's resumption of terrorist activity in Europe makes a mockery of Teheran's diplomatic charm offensive to persuade the European Union to improve trade relations.

The presence of terrorist hit squads in Europe also undermines recent suggestions made by the Iranian embassy in London, that Iran no longer intends to carry out the fatwa imposed against the author, Salman Rushdie, by the late Ayatollah Khomeini.

"The murders in Turkey show that the regime in Iran is still actively promoting terrorism," said Hussein Abedini, spokesman for the NCRI in London. "Rafsanjani has ordered his hit squads to wipe out the regime's opponents throughout Europe - and that includes Britain..." While Rafsanjani still has another year of his presidency to run, his supporters look set to take a hammering in the elections for the majlis (parliament) on March 8.

All the indications are that supporters of Ali Khamenei, Rafsanjani's main political rival and Iran's spiritual leader, will win the vast majority of the 270 seats, forcing Rafsanjani to adopt even harsher Islamic policies...

By ordering the murders of Iranian critics who have sought refuge in Europe, Rafsanjani is trying to prove his Islamic credentials to the electorate in the hope of winning votes.

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