Free Republic

Berlin, 12 Oct. (IPS) To the dismay and anger of the families of the victims, a German court has decided to free an Iranian charged 11 years ago for the assassination of four Iranians in a Berlin restaurant, including the then General Secretary of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (DPIK), two other members of the same Organisation and an opponent to the Islamic Republic. The Federal German Prosecutor announced on Wednesday that Mr. Kazem Darabi, the coordinator of the Iranian-Lebanese terror squad that assassinated Mr. Sadeq Sharafkandi, the General Secretary of the DPIK and three others on 17 September...

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami came to New York City on Nov. 8 to attend a U.N. summit as U.S. intelligence and law-enforcement agencies explored new information tying his regime's intelligence services to Sept. 11 and to previous anti-American terrorist attacks, Insight has learned.The information is coming from a variety of sources and shows a clear pattern of operational contacts between the Iranian government and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization. These contacts include joint planning of terrorist operations, military training of bin Laden operatives inside Iran and by Iranian personnel in Syria and Lebanon, financial assistance to clandestine terrorist and surveillance ...

A Swiss judge has issued an arrest warrant for the former head of Iran's secret police for his role in the killing of a leading Iranian dissident 16 years ago. Ali Fallahian is charged with masterminding the assassination of Kazem Rajavi, a renowned human rights advocate, near Geneva in April 1990. According to a report in Lausanne-based newspaper Le Matin Dimanche, the international arrest warrant was issued by Swiss investigating magistrate Jacques Antenen on March 20. It called on law enforcement agencies to arrest Fallahian – who for years headed Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and is currently...