Date: 11/23/98 2:32:20 PM Eastern Standard Time From: About Iran To: About Iran
Call for Outrage Against the Islamic Republic for the Political Assassination of Two Prominent Opposition Leaders In Iran: Stabbing, Beheading and Mutilation of Dariush and Parvaneh Eskandari-Forouhar by the Islamic Republic Regime November 22, 1998
The Islamic Republic regime, in a most barbaric and cruel manner, has killed two prominent opposition leaders in Iran. Mr. Dariush Forouhar and his wife, Mrs. Parvaneh Eskandari-Forouhar, two outspoken critics of the repressive policies of the Islamic Republic and leaders of the secular opposition and banned "Nation of Iran" party, were found dead in their home in Tehran. Their stabbed bodies were discovered early this morning by Mrs. Forouhar’s sister. In a gruesome scene, she discovered the beheaded body of Mr. Forouhar on a sofa, his head lying next to him! The stabbed, mutilated and beheaded body of Mrs. Forouhar was found on a different floor.
Mr. Forouhar was the founder of the "Nation of Iran" party and had served as the Labor Minister under the first post-revolutionary government in 1979. He was a long time politician and opposition member, both under the monarchy and the Islamic regime. Mrs. Forouhar was also a long time opposition member. Recently, they had called for a boycott of the elections of the clerical Council of Experts, which was held about 2 weeks ago. Turn out for the elections were both a failure and an embarrassment for the regime. While the actual boycott took place more as a result of popular dissatisfaction with the clerical rule, it is quite likely that the assassination of Mr. and Mrs. Forouhar was carried out as an act of revenge, and more importantly, meant to terrorize the rising secular opposition inside Iran.
For About Iran, there is absolutely no question that this abhorrent crime was committed by the clerical regime. This regime is well-known for its track record of the cruel and gruesome elimination of its active and outspoken opposition, both inside and outside Iran. In the early years of the revolution, thousands of opposition members were executed by firing squads. Ten years ago, several thousand political prisoners, whose imprisonment term had expired, instead of being freed, were rather executed, mainly by hanging! About the same time, a prominent opposition leader, Dr. Kazem Samii, was found stabbed to death in his clinic in Tehran. No one was ever arrested or charged in his death.
The Islamic Republic’s track record in dealing with opposition outside Iran is equally brutal and bloody. Over the last 20 years, they have carried out more than 100 extra-judicial executions of their opponents living in exile! In 1991, in Paris, they mutilated and beheaded Iran’s former Prime Minister, Dr. Shahpour Bakhtiar, and they also stabbed his secretary, Mr. Soroush Katibeh, to death. Earlier the same year, they assassinated Mr. Abdol-Rahman Boroumand, once again by stabbing. In 1992, in a Berlin restaurant, they machine gunned a gathering of opposition members, killing 3 Kurdish leaders and their interpreter.
Unfortunately, since the undemocratic election of the Islamic President, Mr. Mohammad Khatami, who is labeled as a moderate in the Western press, the world has turned a blind eye on the true and unchanged nature of the regime in Iran: a totalitarian and repressive theocracy. Tragically, the barbaric execution of Mr. and Mrs. Forouhar must serve as a reminder of the brutal nature of this regime. Just several months ago, the commander of the revolutionary guards warned the critics of the regime of "beheading" and "tongue cutting!" More recently, Iran’s absolute dictator, Mr. Ali Khamenei, called for the silencing of the regime’s critics. Following his call, several newspapers were closed down and some of their publishers and writers were jailed incommunicado.
About Iran calls on all international human rights organizations, including Amnesty the United Nations Human Rights Commission and its High Commissioner, the Honorable Mary Robinson, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Carter Center, and all peace loving governments and leaders of the world, including the Honorable Nelson Mandela, to voice their outrage against this barbaric act of extra-judicial execution. All human rights organizations should work together to send a fact finding mission to Iran to investigate this and multitudes of crimes against humanity in Iran. Finally, About Iran asks all observers of Iran to view the Islamic Republic as it is: a totalitarian theocracy which commits crime against humanity, very much like the former apartheid regime of South Africa. Mr. Khatami’s rhetoric of moderation and call for dialogue between civilizations should not mask the harsh reality of political intolerance, terror and totalitarianism in Iran.
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