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June, 1997.
Faraj Sarkuhi's Trial - Four days after the start of Faraj Sarkuhi's trial, Ayatollah Yazdi has officially declared that Faraj
Sarkuhi will be tried on charges of espionage !. He did not however say for which country, Faraj Sarkuhi, is accused of spying for.
Today, the French Foreign minister said ' France is closely following the trial of the Iranian writer, to see any changes in Iran's human rights records..'.
Ayatollah Qomi Condemns the Velayat Faqih - In an interview with the London based Kayhan
newspaper, Ayatollah Seyed Mahmud Tabatabaii Qomi, the son of the Grand Ayatollah Qomi, who is currently under house arrest in Iran, condemned the basis of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
He described the 'Velayat Faqih' - The Guardanship of the Theologian - as against the Islamic principles. He described the will of the people as the highest body in a popular regime and that the government should be accountable to people and must not transgress its given authority.
He also commented on the recent election of Khatami to presidency saying, it displayed the rejection of the Velayat Faqih by the people of Iran.
Dr. Bakhtiar's Eldest Son Dies - We are informed with great sadness of the death of Dr. Bakhtiar's
eldest son, Geeve Bakhtiar. National Movement of Iranian Resistance expresses its sincere condolenses to his family and friends.
Imminent Staged Trial of Faraj Sarkuhi - 18th June, 97 (IPCE)
Information has been received indicating a staged show trial of Faraj Sarkoohi will commence shortly.
After a long period of holding Mr. Sarkoohi in detention, the Iranian authorities have yet to clarify
the charges against him.
Notwithstanding that illegal departure is a criminal offence in Iran, it remains true however that the
charge announced on 3rd of February by the Iranian Foreign Ministry and repeated on Iranian News Agency IRNA, a day later, is totally fabricated and was hastily brought against Faraj Sarkoohi and his brother Ismail, to justify their arrest. On February 6, 1997, IRNA alleged that Faraj Sarkoohi had had an extra-marital affair with the journalist Parvin Ardalan. A charge much easier to stick in a staged trial than spying but which nevertheless carries the death penalty. The Islamic Republic may after all carry out its plan to 'eliminate' Mr. Sarkoohi on fabricated charges of spying - alas 'corroborated' by forcefully extracted confessions!.
Yet from Mr. Sarkoohi's testimony it becomes clear that his persecution, abduction, detention and forced confessions were plotted by the Islamic Republic to secure two objectives : 1) To counterbalance the consequences of the then pending verdict of the Mykonos trial in Germany; and 2) To bring to an end the cultural resistance started by the open letter signed by 134 Iranian writers in November 1994.
DUBAI, June 16 (Reuter) - An Iranian newspaper said on Monday that visiting German politician Juergen Moellemann had called for the restoration of bilateral diplomatic and economic ties, severed after a Berlin court ruled that Tehran had ordered
political killings.
Moellemann, a parliamentarian of the liberal Free Democrats and former economics minister, spoke after meeting Iranian Minister of Mines and Metals Mohammad Hossein Mahlouji in Tehran on Sunday, the daily Tehran Times said.
``I emphasise the need for restoring diplomatic and economic relations between Iran and Germany,'' Moellemann was quoted as saying. The English-language daily said the officials had discussed cooperation in the field of mines and metals.
After the April 10 ruling, in a "let us do business at any price" frenzy, Moellemann said Germany should intensify its critical dialogue with Iran rather than give it up.
``A Berlin judge cannot decide how we organise our relations with countries around the world,..'' he had said.
Killing Off Iranian Intellectuals - Special Report by Nicholas Goldberg
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