DARIUSH AND PARVANEH FORUHAR MURDERED, PROBABLY BY THE REGIME

By Safa Haeri

LONDON-TEHRAN 22 NOV. (IPS) Dariush Foruhar, the 70 years old veteran Iranian politician and a leading opponent of the ruling Islamic Republic was stabbed to death Sunday alongside his 54 years old wife, Parvaneh, also an outspoken critic of the regime, according to official, family and friends sources.

Leader of the Iran People's Party (IPP), one of the country's oldest political organisation fighting for a Western type parliamentarian republic, both husband and wife were executed in Islamic tradition, with Mr Foruhar's head and one of Mrs Parvaneh's breasts cut off. Both had been stabbed several times with a long knife by unidentified but professional killers.

An opponent of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Mr. Foruhar was jailed several times under the former regime. After the revolution, he briefly took charge of the Labour Ministry in the first government of the Islamic Republic led by the late Mehdi Bazargan, but resigned in protest against the new constitution based on Islamic Sari'a, or Canons by calling for a secular republic. Outlawed by the ruling ayatollahs, his party was nevertheless tolerated. Despite several threats to their lives and attacks of the meetings of the party by Islamic thugs operated by the Information Ministry they were among the very few adversaries of the Islamic Republic who refused to leave the country.

The savage double murder that took place in broad daylight at the couple's residence in the Iranian capital Tehran bore the landmark of execution of political dissidents by the regime's agents, including that of Dr Shahpour Bakhtiar, the Shah's last Prime Minister who was murdered in his Parisian residence in August 1992 by 4 agents of the Islamic Republic's Information (Intelligence) Ministry employing almost exactly the same method, his head and hands cut off.

Both Mr. Foruhar and his wife Parvaneh were outspoken critics of the Islamic regime they would describe as anti-Iranian. In declarations and interviews with foreign-based Iranian media, they denounced publicly and from Iran itself devastation the ruling ayatollahs have caused to the economy of the nation, the violations of the basic rights of the Iranians, particularly the women, the ostracism of Iran in the world, the shame they have caused to the Iranians because of terrorist activities of the state or the support given by the ruling hard liners to terrorist organisation.

The barbaric assassination of the dissident couple, a first that takes place under the government of the of the ayatollah Mohammad Khatami, the so-called Iranian reformist president is the most sever blow to both his personal prestige and political programmes he promised during his electoral campaign 17 months ago, including the restoration of the rule of law, limited political freedoms and the implementation of a civil society.

"This is a naked crime committed by the regime confirming once again it's brutal nature. Every time the regime finds itself weakened, on the defensive and facing the wrath of the population, it wages a campaign of terror aimed at frightening both the dissidents and the people", commented Mr. Abolhasan Banisadre, Islamic Republic's first elected president.

This is not the first time that the ruling Iranian Muslim clerics kill their political opponents. Prince Shahriar Shafiq, General Oveisi, Dr Abdol Rahman Qasemlou, Dr Abdol Rahman Broumand, Dr Shahpour Bakhtiar, Kazem Rajavi, Dr Sadeq Sharafkandi and some others are among the many political personalities that have been executed by the Islamic Republic.

In a communiqué issued hours after the discovery of the bodies, the authorities said unknown killers had assassinated the couple on Sunday, adding that the motive of the double assassination was also unclear.

But friends and family sources told the IPS that Mr. Foruhar and his wife had been assassinated probably Saturday by killers who entered the residence from the roof, and not disguised as members of the organisation who came bringing flowers and pastry, as it had been reported.

One source said slogans such as "death to liberals" were written with blood on the walls and on the floor.

Observing that the statement issued by the Interior Ministry was contradictory, Mr. Banisadre reminded that 3 days before her assassination, Mrs Parvaneh had attacked the regime violently and announced the preparation of a public meeting by the IPP for latter this week.

Other dissidents noted that while Mr Khatami had been very quick in denouncing and expressing his "most profound regrets" over the killing, 4 months ago, of Assadollah Lajevardi, the former head of Islamic Prison's Organisation known by the Iranians as "The Butcher of Evin", he, nor the government have of yet not condemned this bestial murder.
ENDS DARIUSH AND PARVANEH MURDERED 23119803