KAZEM DARABI MAIN OBSTACLE TO FULL IRAN-GERMANY RELATIONS
By Parviz Mardani
BONN 22 Feb. (IPS) With the President of the German Bundestag (parliament) Herr Wolfgang Thierse back to Berlin, relations between The Islamic Republic and Germany remained as tense and strained, if not getting worse, diplomatic sources and analysts said.
They also said that the issue of Mr. Kazem Darabi, a high-ranking officer of the Iranian Information (Intelligence) Ministry who is serving jail sentence in Germany for having masterminded the assassination of four leaders of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan in Berlin in September 1992 is another major obstacle in full normalization between Tehran and Berlin.
What troubled Mr. Thiese’s visit to Tehran was the aggressive attitude of the "Voice and Visage of the Islamic Republic" (VVIR), or the Iranian radio and television organization that is directly controlled by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the fundamentalist leader of the Iranian regime.
In commentaries that reflect the views of the officials, Tehran Radio, criticised statements made by Mr. Thiese before leaving Berlin last Sunday, saying by going to Tehran, he intended to strengthen the hands of the reformist camp and meet with students to hear their voice.
He had also said that not only he would discuss with Iranian officials the issues of human rights, but also raise the question of the Iranian dissidents jailed as a result of their participation in a conference that was held in Berlin last April and the bundle closure of Iranian independent publications.
As Tehran Radio would continue with its rather sharp attacks on both Mr. Thierse and Germany, conservatives’ dailies also joined in the chorus, redoubling attacks against the very same participants at the ill-fated Berlin meeting, showing their displeasure with Mr. Thierse’s visit.
Informed sources explained the conservative’s anger with Mr. Thierse by both his open support for the reformists and particularly the lamed President Khatami in the one hand and the fact that he had required no audience with Mr. Khameneh'i.
Reacting angrily to the VVIR, Hojjatoleslam Mehdi Karrubi, the Speaker of the Iranian reformists-controlled Majles (parliament) described the behaviour of the Radio-Television as "unethical and impolite", advising the organisation’s responsible to learn "fair reporting" as shown by the German’s media during the visit of Mr. Khatami to Berlin last July.
Mr. Mohsen Mirdamadi, Head of the Security and Foreign Affairs Committee of the Majles also accused the VVIR of harming Iranian national interests and warned that the organization must not "mix Iran’s foreign relations with domestic feuds".
The controversy transcended into Iranian press, with some pro-government dailies lashing out at the VVIR and others defending it.
"From the day of arrival of Bundestag President Wolfgang Thierse to Tehran VVIR newscasts repeatedly attacked this official guest of the Majles", wrote the English-language daily "Iran News" that is published by the official news agency IRNA, adding that objection to the discussions by officials of the government with their German counterparts was "unwarranted" and "uncalled for".
Describing the organisations criticism as being against "diplomatic norms as well as national interests", "Iran News" also accused the VVIR of taking the law into its own hands and taking certain actions, which it believes, are within the "realm of authority and description of duties" of a coordinate branch of government.
But "Tehran Times" that is controlled by the conservatives noted that by "dialogue" the westerners mean "we must speak and you must always say "Yes Sir".
"This is the attitude observed by some of our officials with foreigners", the paper said referring to meeting between Mr. Thierse with Iranian officials, including President Khatami, Mr. Karrubi and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi.
Some analysts went as far as seeing in Hojjatoleslam Ali Fallahian’s announcing his candidacy for the next presidential elections due in June as a "deliberate move", since the former Intelligence minister who served under former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is under an international arrest warrant launched by Germany.
It was Mr. Fallahian who ordered the murder of the four Kurdish political leaders to Mr. Darabi. The case ended in Aprils 1997 with a Berlin High Court ruling that all clerical leaders of the Islamic Republic, including Mr. Khameneh'i and Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani were personally involved in the killing of Iranian dissidents.
The Court also sentenced Mr. Darabi to life imprisonment for the key role he had played in the assassinations.
As a result of the sentences, relations were cut off briefly and ambassadors recalled, as Iranians would let no stone unreturned in order to obtain the release of Mr. Darabi from jail.
In a bid to exchange him, the Iranian authorities arrested an innocent German businessman and sentenced him to death on charges of having illegal sex with an Iranian Muslim woman.
However, Mr. Helmut Hofer was released after two years of ordeal in Iranian prisons by paying a huge ransom. ENDS IRAN GERMANY THIERSE 22201