Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris

INFORMATION AND UAISON BUUETIN 2
of the Hilton Hotel, approximately 100 meters from the went Into the building and realized what had happened:
meeting point. As arranged, he carne back to the same the bodies of A. Ghaderl.Azar and Dr. F. Rassoul were
place to pick them up around 7:15; they were not there. lying In pools of blood on the carpet and Ghassemlou
was slouched In an armchair. The apartment was In
He drove off and came back again at 7:30; he saw complete disorder, Indicating that a fierce struggle
police cars and some people gathered In front of a must have taken place between the killers and Ghasbuilding
on L1ndestrasse Street, close to the Hilton. He semlou's two companions.
WHO ARE THE ASSASSINS AND
WHAT HAS BECOME OF THEM?
The Inquest by the Austrian police rapidly established
that the killers had not broken into the apartment.
Neitherthe front doorto the apartment nor the lock had
been forced. As early as July 17th, the ballstic report
established that the assassinations had been carried
out by people standing facing the victims. Contrary to a
version of the story diffused by Iranian propaganda,
there is no doubt that an outsider came to commit this
crime, neither the moudjahiddin, nor Iraqi agents. The
Kurdish figures, carrying no weapons, were assassinated
by so-called Iranian negotiators that turned out to
be everyday killers.
The identity of these «emissaries» was all the more
easily established because the same ones had participated
in December 1988 in the first set of talks With
Ghassemlou (and now again in Vienna). The three
people in question are: Mohammad Jafar SAHAROU-
01 (alias RAHIMI), head of the Iranian delegation, a
high government official at the Ministry of the Interior,
specialist on the Kurdish question, assistant commander-in-chief
of the 15th Division of the Pasdarans Army
(soldiers of the Islamic revolution), special envoy of
RAFSANDJANI, current President of Iran; Hadji
MOUSTAFAWI (alias DJAWADI or LADJEVARDI), a
high government official at the central information
bureau, in charge of the secret service forthe Western
Azerbaidjan region (Kurdistan), second in charge in the
Iranian delegation at the Vienna talks; Amir Mausur
BOlORGIAN, officially SAHAROUDl's body guard.
Hadji Mustafawi disappeared immediately following
the attack. He was momentarily seen near Sahraroudi,
who was in the street, hurt. He then disappeared on a
Suzuki motorcycle for which the papers and rear-view
mirror were later found in a garbage can in close
proximity to the site of the crime, along with the weapons
used in the attack and a parka spattered With
blood - all in a plastic bag. Proof of Moustafawi using
the motorcycle is insufficient, we are told. Somebody
else might well have used the motorcycle. Later,
Moustafawi took a taxi. The driver of the taxi was able
to recognise him from a photo. He remembered this
strange client being very nervous and asking to be
taken tothe airport, then changing his mind and asking
to be taken to the Iranian Embassy.
Nobody has seen him since. The Austrian justice
minister affirmed at the end of August that Moustafawi
was still to be found on Austrian territory and that a warrant
for his arrest had been sent out at the end of July.
Other witnesses maintain having seen Moustafawi
walking about freely in the Iranian capital In September.
Mohammad Jafar Sahraroudl was injured at the site of
the crime by a bullet hitting his forearm and then the
lower part of his face. Before, during orafterthe attack?
He was taken to Franz Josef Hospital where the report
he gave to the police was incoherent and contradicted
the facts given by Bozorgian. The Austrian authonties
decided to confine him to a residence so that he could
be acceSSible to the courts. Sahraroundi and Moustafawi
were both holders of diplomatic passports. but they
were not accredited. On July 22nd 1989, upon leaving
the hospital, Sahraroudi was escorted by police to the
airport where he was sent directly to Tehran. From
informed sources we know that the Minister of Foreign
Affairs received a number of telegrams from Tehran
threatening the kidnapping of Austrians in Iran as a way
of retaliating, among other forms of terrorism.
Amlr Mansour Borzorgian was Immediately arrested
but released 24 hours later. The police did not have any
truely valid reasons for retaining him. Borzorgian took
refuge in the Iranian Embassy. categorically refusing to
put himself atthedispositlon of the authorities in charge
of the inquest. Indignant, the police restated their
demands; a warrant for Borzorgian's arrest was sent
out for «failure to render assistance to a person in
danger». In orderfor hlmto agree to leave the Embassy,
Mr. Foregger, MInister of Justice, was asked by
Tehran to release the suspect following his interrogation;
an incident which caused great unrest in Vienna
and Yielded no tangible results ... And yet, Borzorgian's
behaVior merits the most attention. He swears to
know nothing about the crime, saying that he left the