Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Baszn Özeti
withdrawn by nightfall.
While Washington has sought to isolate Iran for allegedly
sponsoring terrorism, Germany and other European Union
countries have for years pursued a "critical dialogue" policy of
doing profitable business with Iran while pressing it on terrorism
and human rights.
U.S. State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns'called on
European governments to "choke off trade with Iran."
"The 'critical dialogue' has not succeeded in moderating Iran's
behavior," Burns said.
Germany is Iran's biggest Western trade partner, with trade
exceeding $1.8 billion last year.
The EU said in a statement condemning Iranian involvement in
the killings that the policy was designed to create a
"constructive relationship" with Iran. "However no progress can
be possible while Iran flouts international norms," it said.
After the verdict, Iranian dissidents in Europe and some
German lawmakers called for action against Iran, including
freezing Iranian credits.
"We must make unmistakably clear to Iran that Europe will not
put up with Iranian killer commandos without taking action,"
said Rupert Polenz, a leading member of parliament' s foreign
affairs committee.
Prosecutors contended that Iran's powerful spiritualleader,
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Iranian President Hashemi
Rafsanjani had personally ordered the killings.
Kubsch, the presiding judge, said the order for the killing was
given by the "highest state levels" and was implemented by
Iran's intelligence chief, Ali Fallahiyan.
Bernd Schmidbauer, Chancellor Helmut Kohl's intelligence
adviser, testified that Fallahiyan sought to block the trial during
a 1993 visit to Kohl's office in Bonn. Prosecutors issued an arrest
warrant for hirn in March 1996.
The judges found Fallahiyan hired Kazem Darabi, an Iranian
who worked as a grocer in Berlin and was known to German
authorities as a secret agent. Darabi and a Lebanese man, Abbas
Rhayel, were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in
prISon.
Two other Lebanese, Youssef Amin and Mohamèd Atris, were
convicted of being accessories to murder. Amin was given Il
years and Atris five years and three months. A fifth defendant,
Atallah Ayad, also Lebanese, was acquitted.
About 600 Iranian. dissidents cheered and danced outside the
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