Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris
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INFORMATION AND UAISON BUUETIN 2<br />
of the Hilton Hotel, approximately 100 meters from the went Into the building <strong>and</strong> realized what had happened:<br />
meeting point. As arranged, he carne back to the same the bodies of A. Gha<strong>de</strong>rl.Azar <strong>and</strong> Dr. F. Rassoul were<br />
place to pick them up around 7:15; they were not there. lying In pools of blood on the carpet <strong>and</strong> Ghassemlou<br />
was slouched In an armchair. The apartment was In<br />
He drove off <strong>and</strong> came back again at 7:30; he saw complete disor<strong>de</strong>r, Indicating that a fierce struggle<br />
police cars <strong>and</strong> some people gathered In front of a must have taken place between the killers <strong>and</strong> Ghasbuilding<br />
on L1n<strong>de</strong>strasse Street, close to the Hilton. He semlou's two companions.<br />
WHO ARE THE ASSASSINS AND<br />
WHAT HAS BECOME OF THEM?<br />
The Inquest by the Austrian police rapidly established<br />
that the killers had not broken into the apartment.<br />
Neitherthe front doorto the apartment nor the lock had<br />
been forced. As early as July 17th, the ballstic report<br />
established that the assassinations had been carried<br />
out by people st<strong>and</strong>ing facing the victims. Contrary to a<br />
version of the story diffused by Iranian propag<strong>and</strong>a,<br />
there is no doubt that an outsi<strong>de</strong>r came to commit this<br />
crime, neither the moudjahiddin, nor Iraqi agents. The<br />
Kurdish figures, carrying no weapons, were assassinated<br />
by so-called Iranian negotiators that turned out to<br />
be everyday killers.<br />
The i<strong>de</strong>ntity of these «emissaries» was all the more<br />
easily established because the same ones had participated<br />
in December 1988 in the first set of talks With<br />
Ghassemlou (<strong>and</strong> now again in Vienna). The three<br />
people in question are: Mohammad Jafar SAHAROU-<br />
01 (alias RAHIMI), head of the Iranian <strong>de</strong>legation, a<br />
high government official at the Ministry of the Interior,<br />
specialist on the Kurdish question, assistant comm<strong>and</strong>er-in-chief<br />
of the 15th Division of the Pasdarans Army<br />
(soldiers of the Islamic revolution), special envoy of<br />
RAFSANDJANI, current Presi<strong>de</strong>nt of Iran; Hadji<br />
MOUSTAFAWI (alias DJAWADI or LADJEVARDI), a<br />
high government official at the central information<br />
bureau, in charge of the secret service forthe Western<br />
Azerbaidjan region (Kurdistan), second in charge in the<br />
Iranian <strong>de</strong>legation at the Vienna talks; Amir Mausur<br />
BOlORGIAN, officially SAHAROUDl's body guard.<br />
Hadji Mustafawi disappeared immediately following<br />
the attack. He was momentarily seen near Sahraroudi,<br />
who was in the street, hurt. He then disappeared on a<br />
Suzuki motorcycle for which the papers <strong>and</strong> rear-view<br />
mirror were later found in a garbage can in close<br />
proximity to the site of the crime, along with the weapons<br />
used in the attack <strong>and</strong> a parka spattered With<br />
blood - all in a plastic bag. Proof of Moustafawi using<br />
the motorcycle is insufficient, we are told. Somebody<br />
else might well have used the motorcycle. Later,<br />
Moustafawi took a taxi. The driver of the taxi was able<br />
to recognise him from a photo. He remembered this<br />
strange client being very nervous <strong>and</strong> asking to be<br />
taken tothe airport, then changing his mind <strong>and</strong> asking<br />
to be taken to the Iranian Embassy.<br />
Nobody has seen him since. The Austrian justice<br />
minister affirmed at the end of August that Moustafawi<br />
was still to be found on Austrian territory <strong>and</strong> that a warrant<br />
for his arrest had been sent out at the end of July.<br />
Other witnesses maintain having seen Moustafawi<br />
walking about freely in the Iranian capital In September.<br />
Mohammad Jafar Sahraroudl was injured at the site of<br />
the crime by a bullet hitting his forearm <strong>and</strong> then the<br />
lower part of his face. Before, during orafterthe attack?<br />
He was taken to Franz Josef Hospital where the report<br />
he gave to the police was incoherent <strong>and</strong> contradicted<br />
the facts given by Bozorgian. The Austrian authonties<br />
<strong>de</strong>ci<strong>de</strong>d to confine him to a resi<strong>de</strong>nce so that he could<br />
be acceSSible to the courts. Sahraroundi <strong>and</strong> Moustafawi<br />
were both hol<strong>de</strong>rs of diplomatic passports. but they<br />
were not accredited. On July 22nd 1989, upon leaving<br />
the hospital, Sahraroudi was escorted by police to the<br />
airport where he was sent directly to Tehran. From<br />
informed sources we know that the Minister of Foreign<br />
Affairs received a number of telegrams from Tehran<br />
threatening the kidnapping of Austrians in Iran as a way<br />
of retaliating, among other forms of terrorism.<br />
Amlr Mansour Borzorgian was Immediately arrested<br />
but released 24 hours later. The police did not have any<br />
truely valid reasons for retaining him. Borzorgian took<br />
refuge in the Iranian Embassy. categorically refusing to<br />
put himself atthedispositlon of the authorities in charge<br />
of the inquest. Indignant, the police restated their<br />
<strong>de</strong>m<strong>and</strong>s; a warrant for Borzorgian's arrest was sent<br />
out for «failure to ren<strong>de</strong>r assistance to a person in<br />
danger». In or<strong>de</strong>rfor hlmto agree to leave the Embassy,<br />
Mr. Foregger, MInister of Justice, was asked by<br />
Tehran to release the suspect following his interrogation;<br />
an inci<strong>de</strong>nt which caused great unrest in Vienna<br />
<strong>and</strong> Yiel<strong>de</strong>d no tangible results ... And yet, Borzorgian's<br />
behaVior merits the most attention. He swears to<br />
know nothing about the crime, saying that he left the