Reactivation of Iran’s dissident assassinations program

Rooz Online -- News reports indicating that the assassination of Iranian political activists outside the country is once again on the agenda of the Islamic republic of Iran. Among personalities on the target list are Dr Abdol-Karim Soroosh and Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi, while others too have received death threats through the phone or emails.

Based on reports received by Rooz, the assassination of a number of prominent Iranian opposition figures is on the agenda of the intelligence and security apparatus of the Islamic republic of Iran. In a related development, two foreign nationals in a foreign country have recently been reported to have been detained and interrogated by local police officials over their activities in gathering intelligence regarding an Iranian opposition personality in that country.

Rooz has received information that Shirin Ebadi, Abdol-Karim Soroosh and a defected former senior Iranian official are among those who have received death threats by individuals associated with the regime in Tehran.

In addition, a number of Iranian political activists and journalists residing outside the country have also received threatening emails. Some of these emails have originated from Iranian embassies in countries where the activists live. The emails threaten the activists to remain silent or face the consequences of their actions and statements.

Commentators have said that as relations between Tehran and the West have deteriorated, and the possibility of a military strike against Iran’s military installations is gaining media circulation, such threats against dissidents living abroad have multiplied and intensified. According to some analysts the morale of Iranian personnel at the country’s nuclear facilities have dropped because of the recent assassination of Iranian scientists and nuclear professionals, and as a consequence the regime may be embarking on a revengeful path as a way to improve the morale of the members of the nuclear community.

Following the stern response of European countries against the assassinations of Iranian political activists and Kurdish leaders by the Islamic republic of Iran at the Mikonos restaurant in Berlin and reformist president Khatami’s ascent to power, Iran suspended its assassination activities outside the country. These assassination missions by the country intelligence ministry were acknowledged during the trials of some intelligence officers (the trials are commonly known as the chain murders) that were held in Iran after a number of prominent Iranian dissidents and former political leaders were brutally assassinated around the country in the late 1980s.

An Iranian journalist living in France told Rooz that he has received death threats on the phone and through emails. “They sent a message saying that living abroad was not an issue for them and that they could easily bring us back into the country whenever they decided it was necessary,” he said. Even though he said that he had filed formal complaints to the police authorities in his country of residence he would not rule out the possibility of the regime carrying out its threats. These threats, he added, indicated that the Islamic republic has been seriously weakened and shaken and had chosen to threaten its opponents, indicating the failings of the regime.

Among Iranians who have filed reports with local police authorities because of the threats they have received are two defectors who had previously held senior positions in the Iranian regime.