Alleged Victims of Iranian Government

FDI denounces persecution of Baha’is

A Special Report from

The Foundation for Democracy in Iran

Alleged Victims of Iranian government “hit squads,” 1979-1996

as compiled from public sources by the

Foundation for Democracy in Iran

Distribute with attribution

Appendix to Action Memorandum 01 1

Released: May 6,1996

Explanatory Note:

This data base has been compiled from public sources and includes only those terrorist attacks for which

there have been public accusations of Iranian government involvement, either by law enforcement

officials or in the media.

In addition to the attacks we have listed, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI) claims that 26

party members or sympathizers were assassinated by Iranian government attacks occuring in Iraqi

Kurdistan since 1994 and scores more in Iran itself. Additional attacks inside Iraq have also been claimed

by the People’s Mujahidin (PMOI). The nature of these attacks could not be confirmed by independent

sources, although allegations that they carried out by Iranian government agents appear credible.

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Total killed: 85 Total wounded: 54

12/7/79 Paris, France Shahriar Moustapha Shafiq Monarchist A nephew of the former Shah.

Responsibility for the killing was openly claimed by Ayatollah Khalkhali in Tehran, who says his

“Islamic combattants” had also wanted to kill Princess Ashraf, the Shah’s twin sister, who was living in

Paris.

711 8/80 Paris, France N/A Monarchist A failed assassination attempt against Shahpour Bakhtiar kills a

neighbor and a French policeman, and wounds a third person. The hit team was led by a Lebanese

Christian, Anis Naccache, acting on a fatwa signed by Ayatollah Khomeini. Naccache was sentenced to

life in prison on 10 March 1982 but freed on July 27, 1990 when pardoned by President Mitterrand. Iran

had pressured France for his release by taking hostages in Lebanon and by orchestrating a bombing

campaign in Paris in September 1986.

712218 1 Washington, DC (USA) Ali Akbar Tabatabai NA The former press spokesman at the Iranian

embassy in Washington, who became an outspoken opponent of the new regime, was shot at point blank

range by a self-avowed Iranian government hitman, David Belfield, who posed as a postman delivering a

special delivery package to his home in Bethesda, MD

1/1/82 Manilla, Philippines Shahrokh Missaghi Exact date of killing unknown.

1/1/82 Istanbul, Turkey Colonel Ahmad Harned No date given. Possible confusion with Ahrnad Hamed

Monfared, killed in 1986.

4/4/82 Mainz, Germany N/A A young German woman is killed, and 18 Iranian opposition students are

wounded, during an attack by Iranian agents working out of a government-sponsored cultural center

against a dormitory at the University of Mainz in april 1982.

6/6/82 India Chahram Mirani Seriously wounded during an attack in June

1 8/8/82 Karachi, Pakistan Ahrnad Zolanvar Exact date unknown.

9/9/82 India Abdol-Amir Rahdar Exact date unknown.

2/2/83 Manilla, Philippines Esfandiar Rahimi Exact date unknown.

2/7/84 Paris, France General Gholam Ali Oveissi Monarchists The former head of Military Governor of

Tehran was gunned down on the sidewalk in front of his home on the rue de Passy, along with his

brother, Gholam Hossein Oveissi. Responsibility for the killings was claimed by Islamic Jihad and by the

Revolutionary Organization of Iran for Liberation and Reform. Massoud Hendi, who was then the Paris

bureau chief of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcastig (IRIBI) and was later indicted in connection with the

Bakhtiar murder, was briefly detained as a material witness.

8/16/85 Istanbul, Turkey Colonel Behrouz Shahverdilou National Movement of Resistance (NAMIR) A

former army officer, close to Bakhtiar.

I 9/9/85 Karachi, Pakistan M. Mirmanoute Balouch Former member of parliament from Balutchistan.

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I 12/23/85 Instanbul, turkey Colonel Hadi Azizmoradi NA Killed at the entrance of the house where he

was a guest.

1/16/86 Hamburg, West Germany Ali Akbar Mohamadi NA Former personal pilot of Rafsanjani, who

had fled Iran.

8/19/86 London (UK) Bijan Fazeli NA

10/24/86 Istambul, Turkey Ahmad Hamed Monfared Shot by two people in front of a primary school

while waiting for a bus. Had been a bodyguard to the Shah. The Turkish police have identified Iranian

agents as responsible.

12/12/86 Pakistan Vali Mohamad Van Exact date unknown.

7/7/87 Pakistan Faramarz Akai

7/7/87 Pakistan Ali Reza Pourchafizadeh Two separate attacks in Pakistan against Iranian refugees in

July left three persons dead and 23 others wounded. Other known fatality was Faramaz Akai.

7/7/87 London (UK) Amir Hossein Amir-Parviz Monarchist One of the Shah’s former ministers,

Amir-Parviz was seriously injured but not killed when a bomb exploded in his car.

7/12/87 Vienna, Austria Hamid Reza Chitgar Iranian Labor Party Worked at Universitd Louis Pasteur,

Strasbourg (France;. Disappeared 19 May, 1987; body discovered in July in Vienna.

I

I 7/25/87 Istambul, turkey Mohamad-Hassan Mansouri Shot by two assassins in obscure circumstances

I while in the company of an Iraqi diplomat, Behman Fadil. The assassins escaped in white Mercedes

registered to the Iraqi consulate in istanbul; but a ballistics exam showed the same murder weapon was

used to hit Colonel Azizmoradi in Dec. 1986

8/10/87 Geneva, Switzerland Ahrnad Moradi-Talebi A Colonel and pilot (deserter) in the Iranian Air

force, gunned down near the Hotel Edelweiss. The assassins left a blue baseball cap behind them, as a

signature.

10/2/87 Wembley, Great Britain Mohamed Ali Tavakoli-Nabavi NA Killed with youngest son,

Noureddin, outside of home. Lived in Britain since 1979 with refugee status. Responsibility claimed by a

group calling itself the Islamic Revolutionary Guards.

10/10/87 Paris, France Behrouz Bagheri Killed when his shop is fire-bombed.

10/10/87 Pakistan NIA Exact date unknown. A hotel where Iranian opposition members were staying is

fire-bombed, killing one person and wounding another. The Pakistan police accused Iran’s Pasdaran, or

Revolutionary Guards.

1011 0187 Istanbul, Turkey Abdol Hassan Modjtahed-Zadeh Kidnapped in October 1987, presumed dead.

1211 2/87 Turkey Javad Haeri Exact date and place unknown.

1011 1/88 Erzeroum, Turkey Abdol Hassan Mojtahedzadeh (aka Sadiq el Hassani) PMOI Found bound

and gagged in the trunk of a car with diplomatic plates traced to the Istanbul consulate by Customs

officials. The occupants, five Iranian diplomats, were attempting to cross into Iran. He was the PMOI

represenative to Turkey.

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10/25/88 Ankara, Turkey Abdul Ghani Bedawi Saudi intelligence 2nd secretary at embassy, believed to

be intelligence agent. Gunned down by an unknown assaillant. Iranian-paid hitman arrested in 3/96

confesses to the killing on orders from Iran

1211 2/88 Karachi, Pakistan NIA Balouch An armed man opens fire on Iranian refugees waiting in line in

front of the headquarters of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Karachi, killing one

person and wounding five others.

12/27/88 Karachi, Pakistan Hassan al-Arnri Saudi intelligence Suspected Saudi intelligence agent,

gunned down by an unknown assaillant. A Turkish hitman. Iranian-paid hitman arrested in 3/96 confesses

to the killing on orders from Iran

1/4/89 Bangkok, Thailand Saleh Abdullah al-Maliki Saudi intelligence Third secretary at the Saudi

embassy embassy in Bangkok. Responsibility for the killing claimed by the al-Hijaz Islamic Jihad, an

Iranian-backed Shiite opposition group in Saudi Arabia.

5/4/89 Dubai, UAE Colonel Attaollah Bay-Ahmad Flag of Freedom Organization Killed in his room at

the Hotel Astoria, within hours of arriving in Dubai, by an assassin armed with a pistol equiped with a

silencer. He had been on an intelligence mission to establish contact with an opposition network inside

Iran.

7/13/89 Vienna, Austria Abdel Rahman Ghassemlou (Qassemlou) KDPI Killed along with his deputy,

Abdallah Ghaderi Azar, and Fade1 Mala Mahmoud Rasoul, a Kurdish intellectual living in Vienna,

during negotiations with Iranian government emissaries, by a pistol equipped with a silencer. The

presumed assassin took refuge in the Iranian embassy in Vienna. Afrter briefly being questioned by the

Austrian police, he was allowed to return to Tehran.

8/23/89 Cyprus Bahrnan Djavadi NA

9/9/89 Cyprus Gholam Kechavarz Failed assassination attempt leaves Kecharz without the use of both

legs. He later dies of his wounds.

10/16/89 Ankara, Turkey Abdurrahrnan Shrewi Saudi intelligence Saudi military attache in Ankara.

Killed by a bomb placed underneath his car, which exploded just before he arrived at his office at the

embassy, severing both his legs. He subsequently died of his wounds.

11/1/89 Beirut, Lebanon Ali al-Marzuq Saudi Last remaining Saudi diplomat in Beirut, 53-years old.

Killed outside his home in West Beirut. Responsibility claimed by Islamic Jihad, the Iranian-backed

military wing of Hezbollah.

2/1/90 Bangkok, Thailand Abdalrahman al-Basri Saudi intelligence Gunned down along with two other

colleagues, Fahd Abdallah al-Bahli, and Ahmad Abdallah al-Sayf. All three are suspected Saudi

intelligence agents.

2/2/90 Taftan, Pakistan Haj Baloutch-Khan Exact date unknown.

3/14/90 Istanbul, Turkey Hossein Mir-Abedini (aka Reza Akhavanjam) PMOI A Mujahidin

representative to Turkey and two Iranians were ambushed en route to the Istanbul airport, but all

survived. Tehran radio [falsely] announced the same day that the head of the PMOI Foreign relations

department, Mohammed Mohadessine, had been killed in the attack.

.- –

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4/24/90 Geneva, Switzerland Kassem Radjavi PMOI Shot as he was driving to his home i the suburbs of

Geneva by a well-orchestrated hit team. The Swiss police accused 13 persons in the attack, all of whom

had travelled to Geneva on direct flights from Tehran and who were bearing official Iranian government

passports.

811 5/90 Istanbul, Turkey Ahmad Kashefpour Ex KDPI

9/6/90 Stockholm, Sweden Effat Ghazi-Mohamad

KPDI The wife of a Kurdish opposition figure, and daughter of Ghazi-Mohamad, founder of KDPI. She

died when opening a letter bomb apparently addressed to her husband.

1011 0190 Turkey Gholamreza Nakhai Exact date and place unknown.

10/23/90 Paris, France Cyrus Elahi Flag of Freedom Organization Gunned down before dawn in front of

his apartment , 8 rue Bourdelle, Paris 15.

411 8/91 Paris, France Abdel Rahman Boroumand National Resistance Movement (NAMIR) Knifed in the

hall of his building in the 7th district of Paris, by an unidentified assailant. Some claim he may have been

murdered because of gambling debts, but French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere believes he was killed by

Iranian government agents.

1 5/5/91 Soleimanieh, Iraq Safiollah Soleimanpour Killed along with an unnamed brother. The Iranian

I government admits to the killing. Exact date unknown.

7/7/91 Milan, Italy Alberto Capri010 Italian translator of Salman Rushdie is wounded in an attack, but

survives. Exact date unknown.

1 7/12/91 Tokyo, Japan Hitoshi Igarashi Translator of Salman Rushdie Rushdie’s Japanese translator is

I killed in Tokyo. An assassination attempt against his Italian translator was committed on July 3, 1991,

wounding the translator.

8/6/91 Suresnes, France Shahpour Bakhtiar NAMIR Discovered knifed to death at home by his son, a

French police inspector, 36 hours after a visit by a supporter and two friends. Killed with him was

Katibeh Fallouch, his personal secretary. One of the assassins is later arrested in Switzerland and

I

I extradicted to France, where he turns out to be an Iranian government agent. The supporter who

introduced him to Bakhtiar was a mole and fled the country before he could be apprehended.

8/7/91 Paris, France Jawad Mehrani Iranian government Arms dealer believed linked to Iranian

government, in process of negotiating large helicopter purchase from Aerospatiale. He was killed within

1 24 hours of Bakhtiar. Some police sources speculate he may have been eliminated by the same hit team

because he was aware of details of the Bakhtiar murder.

6/4/92 Istanbul, Turkey Akbar Ghorbani (aka Mansour Amini) PMOI Abducted on June 4; body found

on June 16 with its fingernails pulled out and genitals mutilated, in a shallow grave. Police found I

I explosives in two cars he had been using. Turkish fundamentalists confessed they had been paid by

I Iranian intelligence to carry out the kidnapping.

8/7/92 Bonn, Germany Feridoun Farokhzad [Farouchsad] Opposition Knifed to death in his apartment in

I

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Bonn. Exiled since 1979, he worked as a singer, actor and poet, and was associated with the opposition in

exile.

8/8/92 Frankfurt, Germany Homayoun Moghaddam Iran Nation’s Party Wounded by knife when three

Iranians tried to break into his apartment to assassinate him.

911 7/92 Berlin Sadegh Sharaf-Kindi PDKI Gunned dow n along with 3 colleagues at the Mykonos, a

Greek restaurant in Berlin. He succeeded Qassemlou as head of DPIK. The others were Fattah Abduli, a

KDPI European representative, Homayoun Ardalan, the KDPI representative to Germany, and Nuri

Dehkurdi, a translator. Weapons found by police included an Israeli-made Uzi, a Spanish pistol, and a

“Llama” pistol with silencer. In March 1996, the German Federal Prosecutor issued an international arrest

warrant for Iranian intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian for having ordered the killings.

12/26/92 Istambul, turkey Major Abbas Gholizadeh Kidnapped on Dec. 26 by members of Islamic

Action, a Turkish fundamentalist group financed by Iran. In late Jan. 1994, the leader of the group,

Mehrnet Ali Bilici, admits to having received more than $37,500 for the kidnapping and to having turned

him over to Iranian intelligence agents, who are believed to have interrogated him, tortured him, and

killed him. He’d been a bodyguard of the Shah.

1/1/93 Germany Ayatollah Mehdi Haeri Escapes assassination attempt. An Iranian government agent,

Fakhrodine Zalikhani, is arrested. Exact date unknown.

1/24/93 Ankara, Turkey Ugur Mumcu Prominent Turkish journalist, who denounced Iranian subversion

in Turkey. A car bomb exploded in his car at 13:26, in front of his home at 63, Karli Sokak in Ankara.

Prime suspects include members of Islamic Action , an Iranian-backed fundamentalist group in Turkey;

and three Iranian diplomats.

311 6/93 Rome Mohammed Hussein Nagdi PMOI Gunned down in his car by assassins riding on a

motorbike in a Rome street. He was the local representative of the National Council of Resistance, a front

organization for the Massud Radjavi’s Mujahidin. He served as military attach6 to Rome for the Islamic

Republic until 1982. In July 1996, the Italian prosecutor asked the Islamic Republic embassy in Rome to

lift diplomatic immunity on an individual serving at the Rome embassy at the time of the assassination.

8/8/93 Istanbul, Turkey Mohammad Ghaderi KDPI Ghaderi was kidnapped and found dead in Turkey in

August 1993, allegedly by Iranian-controlled agents

8/28/93 Ankara, turkey Mehran Bahram Azadfar KDPI

8/28/93 Ankara, Turkey Mohamad Ghadiri

1011 1/93 Oslo, Norway William Nygaard Salman Rushdie The Norwegian publisher of Salman Rushdie

is shot three times from behind as he is leaving his home, but survives.

1/1/94 Sweden Aoubakr Hedayati KDPI Wounded by a letter bomb. Exact date unknown.

1/4/94 Corum, Central Turkey Taha Kirmench (Kermanch) One Iranian was arrested after three gunmen

killed this Iranian Kurdish activist in the central Turkish city of Corum

1/29/94 Beirut, Lebanon Naeb Umran Maaitah Jordanian Foreign Ministry Maaitah, the number two

diplomat at Jordan’s embassy in Beirut, was gunned down in Syrian-controlled West Beirut. Five days

later, Jordan expelled 21 Iranian diplomats from Amman. Iranian intelligence is suspected of having

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planned his killing, which was carried out by elements from the pro-Iranian Hezbollah.

1/29/94 Syraee, Turkey Nasser Hadji Rashidi Iranian Kurd injured in an attack along with his sister,

Mahtab Hadji Rashidi.

6/24/94 Copenhagen, Denmark Mollah Osman Amini An Iranian Kurdish refugee, found dead in his

apartment in copenhage.

11/12/94 Bucharest, Romania Mohammed Ali Assadi The 38-year old Assadi was killed when three

I assailants burst into his apartment on Saturday night, Nov. 12, and thrust a two-edged Ninja sword into

his back. His wife reportedly said one of them was listed among the Iranian embassy staff.

511 7/95 Baghdad N/A PMOI Two senior PMOI officials killed, one wounded, in Baghdad attack on a

Mujahidin vehicle. Mujahidin blamed “terrorist diplomats” in the Iranian embassy in Baghdad.

6/5/95 Sulaymaniyah, Iraq NIA Kurdish “Toilers1′ Party (Komelah) Two members of an Iranian Kurdish

group were gunned down in Iraqi Kurdistan by Iranian government agents, according to the State

Department’s 4/96 yearly report on terrorism I

I

7/10/95 Baghdad Hussein Adidi PMOI Gunned down with two other Mujahidin officials, Ibrahim Salimi

and Yarali Karatbar, by killers identified by the Mujahidin as “agents of the Iranian regime.” Iraq’s

Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian charge in Baghdad to protest the killings.

9/17/95 Paris, France Hashem Abdollahi NAMIR Murdered when unknown assailants burst into his

father’s apartment in an assassination attack, not a robbery. Hashem was the son of Davoud Abdollahi,

the chief witness in the Bakhtiar murder trial. The State Department’s yearly report on terrorism

speculated his murder “may have been an anti dissident attack.”

2120196 Istanbul, Turkey Zahra Rajabi NCR (PMOI) A senior member of the National Council of

Resistance, Ms Rajabi was killed by five bullets to the head fired at point blank range when gunmen burst

into her Istanbul apartment. Killed with her was Mujahidin sympathiser Abdul-Ali Moradi. PMOI leader

Rajavi blamed the Iranian embassy in Turkey, and issued a statement on 4/23/96 naming four Iranian

diplomats for their involvement in the murders. The diplomats were first identified by Reza Barzgar

Ma’ssoumi, a self-avowed SAVAMA agent arrested by Turkish police in March 1996.

3/4/96 Karachi (Pakistan) Molavi Abdul-Malek Mollahzadeh Balouch The 45-year old son of Iran’s most

prominent Sunni cleric was murdered by two gunmen in a taxi as he was leaving his house in Pakistan.

Molavi Abdul Malek was a well-known opponent of the regime involved in organizing the Balouchi

community. He was killed along with an associate, Jamshid Zahi, 25. A Pakistani woman passing by was

1 also wounded.

3/4/96 Karachi (Pakistan) Abdol-Nasser Jamshid-Zahi Balouch Gunned down on a Karachi street along

with Molavi Abdul Malek, a well-known opponent of the regime involved in organizing the Balouchi

I community.

3/7/96 Baghdad (Iraq) Hamed Rahmani PMOI The Mujahdin blamed the Iranian government for the

murder in Baghdad of Hamed Rahmani, killed while driving to his office in central Baghdad in the

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evening. They said it was the sixth assassination of a Mujahedin member in Baghdad since 5/95. I

Supplement

Alleged assassinations of Iranian Kurds

in Iraqi Kurdistan, 1989-1996

(Source: KDPI)

Total Alleged deaths: 36

9/9/89 Northern Iraq Sadigh Kamangar Killed in September 1989 in Northern Iraq.

6/6/92 Northern Iraq Shapour Firuzi Ex KDPI Killed near the Iranian border

7/7/92 Suleimanieh, Iraq Mansour Moghadam KDPI Killed in July 1992 near Suleimanieh.

11/3/93 Northern Iraq Sadiq Rashidi et a1 KDPI Seven Iranian Kurds killed in Iraqi Kurdistan in attacks

in Nov. and Dec. 1993, allegedly by Iranian government agents.

1/4/94 Northern Iraq Moharnrnad Bokani, aka Khala Hama KDPI, Komalah, unaffiliated A total of 18

Iranian Kurds were killed in attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1994, allegedly by Iranian government agents

I 4/1/95 Iraqi Kurdistan Suleiman Chikerda et a1 KDPI, Komalah, unaffiliated A total of 6 Iranian Kurds

were killed in attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1995, allegedly by Iranian government agents

I 1/2/96 Suleimaniah, Iraq Rahman Shabani Refugees Two refugees, Rahrnan Shabani and Ali Abdullah,

were shot by gunmen allegedly working on behalf of Tehran

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