Information and liaison bulletin - Institut kurde de Paris

INFORMATION AND UAISON BULLETIN 3
building to go down and buy some food. Nobody In the dl for a few minutes, going away in the direction of a
shops In that neighborhood remembers his face. From neighboring park returned. Sahraroudl took out some
his side, Sahraroudi denies that Bozorglan ever left.. documents and 9,000 American dollars from his poc-
. At 7:30 In the evening, F. Rassoul's brother-in-law ket. The envelope was given back to Its owner by the
received a phone call from Bozorglan announcing that Austrian authorities at the time of his departure for
something terrible had happened: that F. Rassoul was Tehran. We conclude, finally, that Borzorglan had not
dead. Borzorglan affirms having discovered Sahrarou- participated In the talks In December/January 1988, but
dl hurt on the sidewalk. Although, he then left Sahrarou- that he was nevertheless in Vienna during this period.
ATTITUDE OF THE AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT
The least that one can say Is that the Austrian authorities
have not acted with the promptness and firmness
necessary to shed light on this horrible attack and bring
its authors to justice. Nevertheless, the police were
easily able to apprehend two of the three members of
the Iranian delegation: Amir Mansour Bozozrgian and
Mohammad Jafar Sahraroudi. The former was arrested
at the place of the crime on Lindestrasse Street,
was released 24 hours later and took refuge in the
Iranian Embassy. The latter, injured by a stray bullet,
was able to fly peacefully to Tehran as early as July
22nd. That is to say, he was released five days after the
first decisive findings from the balistic report, leaving
practically no doubt about the Iranian «emissaries' ..
responsibility in this triple murder. This report was
otherwise kept secret by the Viennese government
until mid-November.
For non-explicit reasons of State, Austria let the assassins
go, holding up the inquest. On November 28th,
under pressure from the public, the Austrians finally
sent out a warrant for the arrest of the three Iranians
who, aftertheircrime, were reintergrated into the killing
machine of the Islamic Repubic. What were the reasons
given by the state? It has been said that Iran
threatened attacks in Austria and kidnappings of Austrians
in Lebanon and elsewhere. The Austrian press
also revealed a NORECOM affair being carried out, of
the clandestine sale of arms to Iran for thousands of
Austrian schillings. It appears that an Iranian was the
principal negotiator of this illegal trafficking committed
in Gulf War; Hadjl MOUSTAFANI, the brain behind a
commando of killers who assassinated A. R. Ghassem-
Iou and hiS two companions.
All were led to think that Kurt WANDHEIM's Austria, its
love of justice, could not and would not get mixed up in
the Iranian regime, a regime known for being masters
of terrorism. It is a Justice, nevertheless, due to all
Kurdish people and to those Austrians close to some
Kurdish individuals who were assassinated on Austrian
territory.
PUBLIC EMOTION
and THE SILENCE OF SOME STATES
Among the numerous political and intellectual men in
Europe and the Near East, Abdul Rahman Ghassem-
Iou enjoyed great estime. His attach me ntto democratic
and humanist values that he himself put into practice in
his guerilla movement was known and attested to by
doctors and journalists who, during the past ten years
were able to go to Iranian Kurdistan. A. Ghaderi-Azar
had also made numerous friends in France, where he
was organising the European faction of his organisation.
F. Rassoul was known and valued in Austria and
in the intellectual circles of the muslim world. Their
assassinations arroused great emotion in the public
opinion of many countries in Europe andthe Near East.
Making itself the vehicle of public emotion and indignation,
the press utilised alot of space for this event. The
International Socialist and several European socialist
parties, among them the French. Swedish and Austrian
Socialist parties as well as the French Communist
Party, have condemned the assassination of the Kurdish
leaders. Also expressing their consternation were
several liberal personalities such as, Jean-Franc;ois
DENIAU, former minister of Valery Giscard d'Estaing,
and numerous scholars and intellectuals. In Turkey,
the press informed the public expressing full of
sympathy. One of the Turkish daily papers, Cumhurriyet,
even allowed the publication of «condolence
messages addressed to the Kurdish people .., signed
by hundreds of intellectuals, lawyers, doctors, and
Kurdish and Turkish militants. ErdallNONU, president
of the Social Democratic Party (the principal parliamentary
opposition organisation), who had met Ghassem-