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Iranian detained in Kurdistan tied to
Vienna Qasimlo murders
17.1.2007
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VIENNA, January
17, -- One of five Iranians arrested by US forces in
Iraq last week is the suspected leader of a commando
team that assassinated three Iranian Kurds in Vienna
in 1989, Austrian public radio has reported.
Austria's Oe1 radio said Tuesday that one of the
arrested Iranians is Mohammad Jafari-Sahroudi,
implicated in the assassination of Dr.Abdul Rahman
Ghassemlou (Qasimlo), then head of the Kurdish
Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), his assistant and
another Kurdish exile.
Abdol Rahman Ghassemlu, the historic leader of
Iranian Kurds, was killed in an apartment in the
outskirts of the Austrian capital Vienna where he
was scheduled to meet a delegation sent by then
Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.
However, shortly after the start of the meeting
between a delegation of the Democratic Party of
Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) and Tehran's delegation, a
special unit of the Pasdaran is believed to have
stormed the apartment and killed Ghassmlu and his
aides. |
Former KDPI Kurdish leader Dr.Abdul Rahman Qassemlou
(Qasimlo), assassinated in Vienna 1989. Photo:
KURDNET Archive |
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The radio station did not indicate its source.
A spokesman for the Austrian justice ministry told
the APA news agency called the report "just
rumours", but said that if it is confirmed that
Jafari-Sahroudi has been captured then Vienna could
seek his extradition as it still has an
international warrant out for his arrest.
The US military arrested the five Iranians last week
at an office in the Kurdistani city of Erbil,
suspecting them of being agents for the Iranian
government who had been arming militias and inciting
anti-American attacks in Iraq.
Jafari-Sahroudi and two suspected accomplices took
refuge in the Iranian embassy after the 1989
killings, and managed to get out of the country
without ever being questioned by the Austrian
authorities.
Iran's current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was
also implicated in the affair by some Austrian
officials in the aftermath of his election victory
in June 2005.
The Islamic Republic's first president, Abolhassan
Beni-Sadr, also claimed Ahmadinejad supplied the gun
used to kill Ghassemlou.
However Tehran has vehemently denied the
allegations, which have never been proven.
AFP | Adnki com
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